Complicated
by The Samurai Prince
Summary: Is it weird to fall in love with your bully? Gumball will start to discover certain feelings for the bull-lion girl after an unexpected scuffle changes their relationship. Gumball/Jamie. HighSchool!AU.
1. Snapped

****WELL…I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. NOW I'm writing stories for TAWOG. Why? I don't know, I just thought the show was kind of cute, so I decided to write a somewhat AUish version of it. I do like the possibility of Gumball pairing up with some of the other ladies in his school, especially when they are in their teens. And what better way to do that than FANFICTION! XD****

 ** **Keep in mind though, that I haven't watched the show for a while, but I do know that Penny is out of her shell, and Gumball and her are pretty much together…I think. The show kind of got off my radar after a while, so I don't know what happened beyond all of that.****

 ** **But this story isn't about Gumball/Penny, this will be about Gumball/Jamie! The reason I picked this pairing is because I like those kinds of relationships where the cute tough girl and the wimpy guy(in Gumball's case) actually hit it off. I'm just a sucker for those. X) Also, I like to see a story like that that's executed right. And I have to admit, I didn't see the episode where it features Jamie in it, but I think I have her personality down. Tell me if I did! :)****

 ** **By the way, if it seems things are moving too fast in this story, then sorry, I just wrote this at the spur of the moment. Oh, and just so that I wasn't clear, this is a high school AU where everyone is kind of humanized and anthropomorphic. :P****

 ** **Now for the disclaimer! :D****

 ** **Disclaimer: I don't own TAWOG, some guy named Ben Bocquelet does. X)****

 ** **[EDIT: 11/5/2017]****

* * *

 ** **oOo****

 ** _ **Complicated**_**

 ** **oOo****

* * *

Misery…

It seems to like Gumball.

It would also seem that it sets up its domain in high school.

Gumball, during the end of his sophomore year, had it rough. More than usual. It wasn't the mediocre grades or the nagging teachers that made it rough on him. No, it was multiple things…actually, it was __two__ things.

The first and most important thing was that his girlfriend Penny broke up with him because she and her family had to move out of the country into Mexico, as her father had a better real estate job opportunity there. She didn't want to break up with him, but she felt like it was best for them, which Gumball, with a broken heart, understood.

That was two semesters ago. Now near the end of March and a junior in high school and almost seventeen, it still pains him.

The second thing…was __her__.

 _ _Jamie__.

The seventeen-year-old would-be senior(she was still in the same grade as Gumball and Darwin, even though she passed Junior High) was still in her bullying ways, but it would seem Gumball was her 'favorite' person to harass. It happened a little while after the breakup with Penny, which this obviously fueled his misery even more.

Ever since puberty hit Gumball, his physique had grown tall and became even lankier, but it didn't make him too tall, as he was around 5'7". His voice has gotten lower, but it still had that boyish tone to it. Either way, whether it was his body shape or whatever, it gave Jamie a reason to bully him. She calls him names, she pushes him when she passes him, she shoots spitballs at him in class, she kicks him in the butt when he isn't looking; you name it, she can probably do it. He doesn't even know why she's harassing him the most. He thought they were kind of on okay terms now. Maybe high school changes people.

…High school sucks by the way.

But he really wasn't all that depressed. He still has the support of his family and friends.

"Uh, Gumball?"

Speaking of family…

Gumball closed his locker and glanced at his adoptive brother, "Yeah, Dar?"

"You got a spitball in your hair."

The blue cat-man hybrid let his hand brush his blue hair rapidly. "Thanks."

Gumball Waterson is just your average student, a student dressed in a red and black plaid jacket shirt that's opened up to reveal a plain white t-shirt, along with dark blue denim jeans, and black sneakers. His blue shaggy hair was kind of a mop, with his cat ears popping out of them. More than anything, he looks kind of Grunge-y. He didn't really care how he looks to be honest, ever since Penny broke up with him. His mother, on the other hand, wants him to at least be decent looking. His face does look boyishly handsome though.

His adoptive orange fish-man hybrid brother Darwin, was wearing an orange hoodie, as well as brown cargo jeans, and his signature green sneakers. He shot up pretty well and is about the same height as Gumball. His face still looked cute after all these years, his face cheeks still having some of his baby fat, each having gills on them.

"Was it Jamie again?" Darwin asked sympathetically.

"Who else?" Gumball rolled his eyes.

"Well, Tina, but she wasn't as bad. She actually mellowed out during her time in Elmore." Darwin noted.

Gumball hummed in agreement. "True on both parts."

Not only did Penny moved away, but Jamie's best friend Tina moved away as well. She actually left before Penny did, during the end of their sophomore year. The T-Rex girl moved from Elmore to Los Angeles to be closer to family, all the while her father getting a new car garage job while they were over there.

Gumball then shrugged and said, "Well, either way, I guess it's better to have one bully instead of two."

"I just wonder what made Jamie your most frequent bullying target during our time in high school?" Darwin said aloud, pondering.

"Who knows? Maybe it's because Tina moved away and she doesn't have a friend anymore." Gumball paused. "Or it could be because I'm skinny enough to be bullied or something stupid like that."

"I'd go with the first one," Darwin said with a knowing look and nod.

"Again, maybe. I can't ask her, that's for sure. Asking bullies something like that really doesn't go too well." Gumball said as he frowned.

"Well, sorry about Jamie either way," Darwin said sincerely.

Gumball shrugged, "Eh, I'm kind of used to it. It's not like she physically abuses me or anything."

"What about the butt kicking and pushing?"

"…Well, she doesn't abuse me __most__ of the time." Gumball muttered as he looked down at the floor.

After saying this, Gumball then suddenly felt a constricting pressure on his crotch area as the back of his underwear was pulled upwards and draped over his head, the leg holes looped around his cat ears. This feeling was none other than the excruciating feeling of getting a wedgie.

"AAACK!" Gumball exclaimed, his tone getting a little higher thanks to the constricting feeling of the elastic cotton underwear on his frontage.

Boyish feminine laughter rang his ears, as Gumball painfully turned around while having his underwear over his head to see his green-skinned lion/buffalo-hybrid tormentor, Jamie.

Jamie's little bullhorns were still sticking out of her bushy short red hair, which her hair still covered her eyes as well as the few bit of her freckles that on her face. While her face and hair still remain the same, her __body__ didn't. During the years, her physique developed into a curvaceous hourglass, which her hips were quite wide. She was also toned and thick in the legs and thighs, her arms being quite toned as well, as well as her stomach, thanks to working out over at her makeshift gym in her home.

Her other noticeable attributes though were her chest and bottom. She definitely bloomed in both departments, her chest being quite big, while her butt looked round, full, and toned. Her attire consists of a cotton short white tank top that shows a fair modest amount of her cleavage, while she wears a pair of tight-fitting black denim shorts. She also has knee high army-gothic boots that have straps and buckles on them, as well as black leather bracelets with metal knobs on them on each of her wrists. Lastly, her height was quite tall for someone her age; not much, just maybe an inch taller than Gumball, making her 5'8".

All in all, she was actually attractive. Many boys in his school do turn an eye towards her when she passes by…although they keep their distance away from her and keep their mouths shut if they know what's good for them. Gumball would even admit that she was kind of nice looking…if he was ever interested in her, that is.

Jamie kept laughing and emitting un-lady like snorts. "Oh, man! Nice look there, Gumbutt!"

Gumball growled. He can hear snickers around the hall as the kids looked at the scene before them. He can even hear a phone's picture snap and looked over to see Banana Joe taking a picture of his expense.

He turned to Jamie with an unamused glare, "Really? Wedgies now? We're not in Junior High anymore, Jamie."

"Oh boo-hoo! What's got up your buttcrack? Oh, wait, never-mind! I think I know!" Jamie laughed at her joke.

"Yeah, haha, very funny," Gumball muttered. He turned to Darwin, "You know, you could've warned me that she was coming, Darwin."

"I would've, but she gave me the stink-eye," Darwin said, ashamed as he looked down at the floor.

Gumball sighed and turned to Jamie. Darwin in the meantime was getting the back of his underwear off his head, "Okay, we all had a laugh. Now, could I just live the rest of my after-school day in peace?" Once he said that Darwin looped off the back of his underwear off his ears and head. "Thanks, Dar."

"No prob."

"Not yet." Jamie smirk mischievously. Putting her two fingers in her mouth quickly, she took them out and lodged them into Gumball's cat ears, giving them wet willies.

"AAAUGH!" Gumball exclaimed mortified.

Once she let go of his ears, Jamie laughed again, this time harder.

And at that moment, Gumball snapped. He had enough.

"UUUUGH! What is __with__ __you__!?" he exclaimed in anger.

Jamie stopped laughing and looked at him in surprise. The students in the hall were all silent, looking towards the scene with interest, as well as stopping what they were doing. Darwin looked at his brother with a fearful look, dreading what is going to unfold.

"Day in, day out, ever since during our the end of our sophomore year, you seem to always pick on me the __most__! Granted, you give everyone else a hard time, but you always put whatever frustration you have at the time on __me__! What do you __have__ against me!?" Gumball yelled at her in frustration.

Jamie blinked and narrowed her eyes as she frowned, "Sheesh, calm your boobs, Gumbutt. If you haven't figured it out by now, you're kind of the weakest of the pack here."

" _ _What__!? __Really__!? That's your bullcrap reason!?" Gumball yelled incredulously.

"Gumball…" Darwin said, worried that his surrogate brother will get his face punched in.

"Hey, watch it, __Watterson,__ " Jamie warned him with a glare.

"Come on, there's got to be a better reason than __that__!" Gumball ignored her threat. "You know, I thought we were okay with each other back in junior high! Now all of a sudden, you decided to harass me all over again! What changed, huh!? By the way, I was okay with you bullying me the first time if it wasn't too extreme. And no, it's not because I'm quote-unquote ' _ _weak'__! I had a feeling you were just trying to cope with some problems in your life, such as your best friend moving out of town!"

"Hey, you _**_**watch**_**_ __it__!" Jamie seethed.

"Gumball, seriously…" Darwin was getting anxious now.

"But now it's just getting __sad__!" Gumball also ignored Darwin, on a roll with his rant, "We get it! You have __no__ friends now! Your only friend just left! Move __on__ already! Maybe you can stop this so-called __coping__ and start acting like a person instead of being like such a __bitch__ to everyone!"

Darwin blanched at what Gumball said.

The hallway was dead silent…

Gumball couldn't care less on the consequence of what he just said. If she was going to punch him, then he might as well get ready.

But Gumball noticed a look on Jamie's face that was brief. It looked like…hurt? Her expression quickly went back to anger though as she said, "Oh! Ex- _ _cuse__ me!? Even if I was coping, it's not like __you're__ doing any better!"

Gumball's eyes widen, "What do you mean?" he said, voice uneven.

"Pfft! Please! Like you're one to talk about coping, ya hypocrite! Ever since that prissy Penny left, you've been a pathetic mess, whining and crying about losing your __girlfriend__!" Jamie sneered.

Gumball frowned, "Hey, no I haven't!"

"Tch! Yeah, right! Could've fooled me! I can see it in your eyes! You look so __miserable__ , all because your main squeeze left you in the dust! Grow a pair, will you!?"

Gumball glared at her, " _ _Shut up__."

"No, I don't think I will! Maybe it's time I get to say something since you already had!" Jamie said fuming, "Maybe I __am__ coping with my only friend moving out of town, but at least I keep in touch with her through phone calls! What have you've done to keep in contact with Penny!? Did __Penny__ did anything to contact you!? Go ahead, answer!"

Gumball just stayed silent, eyes narrowed at her.

Jamie scoffed, "Just as I thought! __Nothing__! Probably because ever since you two __love__ birds were together, she'd gotten tired of you! Or maybe she hung out with you a lot to now know that she really wasn't all that __interested in__ __you__! So she decided to break it off, never giving you her phone number to keep base! And then you mope around for basically two semesters, doing your so-called __coping__ by living your normal life, but in actuality, you're still just a miserable __mess__! I can see it in your posture every day! So I'm going to use __your__ exact words that you said to me, __'Move on already!'__! Does __that__ sound familiar!? Huh!?"

Gumball gritted his teeth, " _ _Shut. Up__."

But Jamie ignored him, "And maybe I'm actually __helping__ you get over little Miss Priss dumping you by harassing your ass! Lord knows you need it just by the way you've been acting! So who's being the __bitch__ now, huh!?"

" _ _REALLY!?"__ Gumball yelled in more frustration. " _ _That's__ your way of helping me!? By making me __more__ miserable!? Wow! __Wow__! That's _**_**genius**_**_ __logic__! I __applaud__ you! You know what, you should be a __psychologist__ , given if you even know WHAT ONE __IS__! WAY TO MAKE SOMEONE FEEL A LOT BETTER, YOU _**_**STUPID FREAKING TOOL**_**_!"

 _ _BAP!__

Many gasps came from the hallway.

Gumball felt Jamie's fist struck his left cheek. It was swift, but it felt like not much force was put into it, although it still hurt…

"Gumball!" Darwin exclaimed in shock after seeing his brother get socked. He went to his side to check if he's alright.

But Gumball was expecting that much, as he sucked up the pain, and glanced back at Jamie, who looked furious than before.

However, she stayed silent, fuming, gritting her teeth as she bared them. Her eyes looked wild like she was about to pound him some more…but her eyes carried something else. They looked…betrayed? She then began saying, "Well, you feel better now!? You feel better being an __ass__!?" she yelled, "Why not step it up a notch huh!? Let's see what kind of __man__ you really __are__!" she lifted her chin up and pointed at it. "Go on! Hit me! Let's see if you got the balls, huh!? Think you can talk trash, then __fight__ like trash! Let's see if you can hit a girl! Let's see if you can hit me with those noodle arms!"

Gumball just glared at her. He was pissed, that's for sure, but he would never hit a girl, no matter how much he's tempted too. No, he's going to try a different approach. Call it being fueled by rage, but he just doesn't care anymore.

"No. I won't hit you." Gumball sternly. "In fact, I have something else in mind…"

Jamie looked at him curiously with blinking eyes but recovered with a sneer. " _ _Really__?" she said in a disbelieving tone.

"Yeah…making you have a __taste of your own__ _ ** _ **medicine**_**_!" Gumball exclaimed as he made his move.

Quickly, Gumball took the hems of her black denim shorts…and pulled them down!

Jamie froze.

Darwin froze.

Everyone in the hallway froze.

The shorts that hugged snuggly on her hips plopped down at the ankles of her boots.

"HAH! HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, HUH!?" Gumball yelled in victory, finishing it with a smirk. He looked down…

…and blinked with a shocked, dumbfounded look on his face…and instantly blushed.

Upon pulling her shorts down, they revealed…

…Jamie's pink panties, complete with a red bow on the very top of the hem.

Gumball's eyes widened at the sight, mouth slightly agape.

Students in the halls, as well as Darwin, stared at the bizarre spectacle of Jamie actually wearing __anything__ pink…

Banana Joe took a picture of it with his smartphone.

Alan was covering his eyes from looking, his girlfriend Carmen next to him, who looked shocked at this reveal.

Teri put her hands to her mouth, also in shock.

Carrie blinked at the sight.

Tobias could be heard saying, "Daaaayum…"

Bobert tilted his mechanical head in wonder, quietly saying, " ** **This is going into my memory bank****."

Darwin was still frozen in his place, mouth agape as well.

Jamie however, just stood there unmoving…a blush on her face, which her expression looked terrifyingly plain to begin with.

All the anger gone, replaced by guilt, shame, and most of all horror, Gumball instantly regretted what he did. __'Maybe I should have chilled out a little…'__

"U-um, I-I uh, w-wha-uh, I, um, uh-"

Jamie, who was frighteningly calm, bent down and grabbed the hem of her black shorts.

One of the male students whistled as she bent down.

She ignored it, as she slid her pants up and back on. She did, however, looked up at Gumball with deadly intent and is shaking with supposed fury…

"L-L-Look, I'm sorry, I'm __sorry__! That-that was uncalled for, it was __too__ far! I-I-I um, I just-I just, uh, um…hey! Yeah, um, maybe we can, just…forget this happened! We can go back to the way things are and you can…you can…"

"Gumball?" Darwin whispered loudly.

Gumball kept his eyes on Jamie when he replied to Darwin, "…Yeah?"

"Just __run__."

"…" And that's what Gumball did.

He sprinted off, running off to his left. He then heard Jamie yelled to the students, "IF ANYONE OF YOU EVER SPEAK OF THIS OR POST WHAT YOU SAW ON THE INTERNET, I'LL MURDER ALL OF YOU!" He then could hear the heavy boots pounding away after him.

' _ _Oh__ ** **crap**** _ _!'__ Gumball thought in a panic. Apparently, she gave him a head start, but he knew she was going to catch up to him. Those killer legs can do more than just kick his butt. __'Damn man, don't think that while you're running for your life!'__

As he made a couple of turns in the hallways, he tried to think of an escape plan. He couldn't just run out in the middle of the open outside lest he let anyone see that he was going to be beaten up by a girl…a girl who had killer curves.

' _ _OH GOSH__ _ ** _ **STOP IT**_**_ _ _! WHAT WAS I__ _ ** _ **THINKING**_**_ _ _!? WHY DID I EVEN__ _ ** _ **DO THAT ANYWAYS**_**_ _ _!? WHAT WAS THE__ _ ** _ **POINT OF THAT**_**_ _ _!?__ _ ** _ **OH DAMN IT, I'M**_**_ ** **SUCH**** _ ** _ **AN IDIOT!**_**_ _ _'__ Gumball yelled in his mind frantically as he ran.

He kept running until he found the boy's bathroom. He skidded to stop. That was the solution!

' _ _The boy's bathroom! Maybe I can hide in there! It's universal that girls don't go in the boy's__ __bathroom!'__ So with that in mind, he went inside. He dashed to the second bathroom stall, gently closed and locked the door, and sat on the closed toilet seat and wait it out…until he dreadfully realized something.

' _ _Wait a second! What if she figures that I'm in here and is waiting for me outside!?'__ Gumball grimaced, his eyes wide as he gulped.

To his horror, he can hear the same heavy boots stomping in the boy's bathroom.

Gumball's mouth dropped open in shock. __'No…no freaking way! She can't__ _ ** _ **do**_**_ _ _that! This is the__ _ ** _ **boy's bathroom**_**_ _ _!'__

The stomping footsteps grew louder…

'… _ _No! Nuh-uh, nope! It's decided! That__ _ ** _ **can't**_**_ _ _be her! That's just another guy with boots…stomping into the bathroom.'__

The sound of the footsteps stopped…they then headed to the bathroom stall where Gumball is at.

He's really doubting his previous theory right now…especially when the footsteps stopped in front of the stall and he can see those same boots that Jamie was wearing at the bottom opening of the stall.

'… _ _Oh…__ _ ** _ **crap**_**_ _ _.'__

The stall was kicked in, breaking the lock of the door as it barely hit Gumball once it swung in.

Gumball sat there, eyes wide in terror as he saw his bringer of death.

Jamie stood there, her arms arched at her sides as she clenched her fists, looking __extremely pissed__. Her eyes were intense as she death glared at him, her mouth turning into a scowl.

She then spoke dangerously low, "Did you __really__ _ ** _ **think**_**_ I __wouldn't__ check the _**_**boy's bathroom**_**_?"

Gumball gulped hard and said meekly, "M-Maybe…?"

She snorted just like a bull. "You know, I had to admit, that was a gutsy move on your part. Stupid, but __gutsy__."

"And you know what, it __was__ stupid! Let's just forget the whole thing and move on with our lives!" Gumball said as he tried to poorly bargain his way out of his predicament.

"Oh __no__ , you're not getting off __that__ easily." Jamie seethed as she gritted her teeth, baring them.

' _ _I got to say, she actually does look hot when she's mad.'__ Gumball said in his mind absentmindedly.

Jamie's expression instantly turns into confusion, "What?"

Gumball's eyes widened in realization, "…I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

Jamie blinks, but then she shook her head, "Nice try, Gum- _ _ass__ , but flattery will get you __nowhere__!"

Gumball winced, sweating bullets, heart racing at the impending doom he is about to endure.

"Well, any last __words__?" Jamie said threateningly, cracking her knuckles.

Gumball sat there, contemplating quickly what those last words could be. __'Well, since I'm probably going to die anyways, I might as well apologize for how I acted. Like it's going to matter.'__

He sighed heavily, "I'm…I'm sorry."

Jamie scoffed and started to raise her fist.

"Wait! Before-you-strike, let-me-really-give-you-an-apology!" Gumball said quickly, his hands held up in defense.

Fortunately, she stopped her raised fist from punching him. "What?"

"I said…" he took a deep breath, "I said let me __really__ give you an apology. I mean, it's not going to matter either way, but let me just say this so we can be on somewhat good terms with each other."

Jamie was quiet…until she said, "Go on."

Releasing a sigh of relief, but still nervous, he said, "Well…first of all, I am SO sorry that I made that, um…gutsy move back there. I wasn't thinking, I was just angry at the time, and…yeah." He looked down in shame with a slight blush on his face, mildly thinking of Jamie in her __pink__ underwear, __'For the love of everything good and decent, do NOT think about that image right now.'__ "And…you have every right to be upset really. I mean, not just that move I made, but as well as Tina moving away. You lost your good friend, and…well, that must really suck. I mean you did say that, you know, you communicate through phone calls, but…you don't get to hang out with your buddy around places, like at the movies, or at their home, or at the mall, or…yeah…" Gumball rubbed his arm sheepishly, "A-And…" he sat there, having renewed courage, "…you're right."

Jamie's eyes widened in surprise, but it was hidden by her hair.

"You're right. I…I __am__ a mess. It's just…I thought Penny and I would be together for as long as we live, you know? …But of course, life had other plans." He muttered sorrowfully. "I mean, for all I know, she's probably with some handsome __senior__ or whatever right now in Mexico. And…yeah, I was just depressed about the whole thing. You're right, I wasn't coping it really well. I just now realized that." Gumball frowned, "You know, you're also right about one other thing. Why wouldn't Penny give me ways to contact her? I mean, we have webcams, I got her old cell phone number, I got her email address…we __could've__ made it __work__. I mean…why? Was she __really__ losing interest in me…?" Gumball's eyes started to tear up. Frustrated, he roughly rubbed them as he grunted, "Damn it, I __am__ pathetic!" he exclaimed. "I mean…what was __wrong__ with me!? I…I thought we had __something__! I thought…I thought…" he whimpered just a bit, burying his face in his hands.

He doesn't know why he's pouring his heart out to his bully, but he just doesn't care right now. He just really needs to vent badly right now, to release the hurt that he felt. He doesn't even care that he's about to be beaten to a pulp, he just wants someone to listen instead of keeping it to himself.

Jamie remained quiet during the whole thing.

Gumball tried desperately not to cry, not in front of Jamie, but he couldn't help but let a few tears slide down his face. He rubbed the tears away with his hands, sat up, and took a deep shuddering breath. He looked down at the bathroom tile floor for a moment. "…Oh yeah, I, uh…" he looked sheepish again, "…I'm also sorry for calling you a 'stupid tool'. T-That was uncalled for. Again, I wasn't thinking. …You know, maybe you did kind of help me out a little. At least I got some attention from someone else, even though that form of attention was harassment." He smirked, chuckling. He looked up at Jamie with the same smirk and said, "Well…I guess that's all I got to say. Again…I'm sorry." He frowned sadly as he looked down at the floor once more, "I guess I really do deserve this…" He chuckles, "You know…do your worst. I accept my fate now…" He sighed and sat up straight, "Well…I'm ready." Gumball closes his eyes, waiting for the incoming impact.

He waited….

Waited…

….And waited…

…He opened one eye.

Jamie just stood there, expression unreadable. She seemed to let her arms relax but her fists were still clenched.

Gumball opened his other eye and blinked, "Um…I said I'm ready."

Jamie still stood there…and heaved a sigh, "Ah, __crap__." She muttered.

Gumball raised his brow, "Uh…"

She shook her head, turned around, and said, "Get up."

He blinked again, "What?"

"I said 'get up'."

"…Wait, so…you're not going to hi-"

"I SAID GET UP!"

"Ack! Okay, yes ma'am!" Gumball got up from the closed toilet seat.

Jamie took a few steps out of the stall, her hands on her hips. Gumball cautiously got out of the stall as well, wondering what's going to happen.

She then spoke, "Here's the deal. I'm going to let you off the hook."

Gumball's mouth dropped, "R-really!?"

"BUT!" Jamie said, turning slightly to Gumball with a finger pointing at him, "I need a reputation to keep. So…beat yourself up."

"…What?"

"You heard me."

Gumball blanched, "Wait a minute! I could just run right now! I don't need to do what you're asking."

"You're right. You __could__ just run. But right now, you aren't. And if you don't do what I'm asking, then I might change my mind or return the favor __tomorrow__." Jamie said sternly as she fully turned to him now.

He frowned and crossed his arms, "I rather just let you do it right now. I __was__ ready for it."

Jamie scowled, but then sighed heavily, putting a hand on her face, "Look, just…you don't have to __really__ beat yourself up; just put a bruise on your face, that's all. You can pretend I punched you in the stomach or something. Just…do it so I won't have to, okay?"

Gumball blinked, surprised at Jamie's sudden act of mercy. He didn't know what to say…he was actually kind of touched really. Here is this bully who made his sophomore year and recent junior year kind of rough, and now here she is showing her own form of compassion and sympathy.

He stared at Jamie, almost like he was studying her…not in a creepy way, of course.

After a few seconds of staring(she wasn't aware he was staring because her hand was still on her face), he sighed…

He raised a fist…and beat the right side of his face.

Jamie heard fist on face-flesh sound and looked up to see Gumball hitting his face rather hard. She blinked, not believing what she's seeing. Granted, she's relieved that he was even doing it, but it still shocked her.

Gumball grunted in pain while doing his self-inflicting punch on his face. He was really starting to feel more pain once he kept going.

Shaking out of her stunned state, she said, "Okay, stop already!"

After the last punch, Gumball cried out in pain, "UUGH! Oh, thank goodness! I couldn't feel my face anymore!"

Jamie sighed in relief. "Here, let me look at you." She went up to Gumball's face and lifted it up with her hand to inspect it.

Gumball froze as her hand made contact with his face. __'Whoa…uh…okay. …Her hand is soft.'__

After a little bit of inspecting, she nodded and let go of Gumball's face, "Huh. You actually did pretty well."

"Heh, thanks." He said with a wince. He really did a number on his face.

Jamie just stared at him for a moment. "…And…apology accepted. Oh, and…I'm…sorry too." She looked down in embarrassment.

Gumball smiled, "That's good to hear. And apology accepted as well."

Jamie nodded, head still looking at the floor.

They stood there for a while…

"…Soooo…what now?" Gumball asked.

"…I'll tell you what," Jamie looked back up at Gumball, "I won't tell anyone that you cried about Penny." She said sincerely.

"Hey, I wasn't cryin-"

"Don't deny it, you were."

"Okay," Gumball said with pity.

Jamie smirked, "Seriously, it's okay to cry. I mean even I-I mean…" she faltered there, suddenly looking defensive and glanced to her left to not let him see her blush.

Gumball blinked, "What now?"

"Nothing!" she turned her head back to Gumball, "Look, I don't want my reputation to be tarnished, so…just keep this between ourselves, alright?" she said with a hardened look.

"…You know, you don't have to be a bully. We __can__ be friends." Gumball says.

Jamie stood there as if she's considering his words…she sighs, "…Look, maybe…I'll go easy on ya from here on in, okay?"

Gumball smiled again, "That's cool."

Jamie smiled as well.

' _ _Wow…she has a nice smile.'__ Gumball thought absentmindedly.

"…You didn't hear me say anything just now, did you?" Gumball wondered.

She looked at him weirdly, "What?"

"Never-mind." He chuckled.

She raised an eyebrow but shook her head as she chuckled. She then remembered something that Gumball said while she was about to slug him. Jamie smirked, deciding to have some fun with him.

"So…" she began, "I'm __hot__ when I'm mad, huh?"

Gumball eyes widened, "U-Uh…oh, um, you-you remembered that, huh?"

"Yep." She said still smirking.

"W-Well…um…u-uh…y-you know, I, uh…did thought…uh…you-you were, you know, nice…looking, in-in general." He stuttered, trying not to fumble his words. Why did his stupid hormones have to speak for himself back there? …In fact, what was he thinking saying all of this now? Granted, she has become attractive during the years, but this was his __bully__ , the person who kicked his butt when he wasn't looking.

…But seriously, Jamie does look really attractive now.

' _ _Damn it, quit it!'__ Gumball cursed in his mind.

Then suddenly…he felt a soft peck on his punched bruised cheek.

Gumball froze.

Jamie kept smirking as she back away. "Thanks for the compliment." She said as she blushed lightly.

Gumball however blushed tenfold.

She snickered, "You know what? I __will__ go easy on you…see ya around, Gumball." And then she walked off, giving him a wave.

Gumball's eyes followed her retreating figure, dumbfounded at what just happened. He also couldn't help but look at her bushy tipped tail which was swishing back and forth, and seeing her hips swaying in a sexy way...as well as the full-looking posterior that was accompanying those hips.

His eyes widened as he bit his lower lip, __'__ Dayum, __those shorts emphasize it__ beautifully. _ _'__

Once she left, Gumball stood there alone in the bathroom…

He touched the spot where Jamie kissed him on his bruised cheek, in which he winced at the touch.

"…I need a nap." He mutters.

* * *

 ** **Well, that's the first chapter! Tell me how I did! :)****

 ** **And just to let you all know, yes, I**** _ ** _ **will**_**_ ** **continue this. The next chapter will be set in Gumball's home life, and it will continue to the next day in school, and so on and so on. Of course, I got to get back to writing my other stories that I'm neglecting, so this story will have to wait for now. Don't worry everyone, I will get back to them soon! …Eventually. D8****

 ** **By the way, check out my other stories if you're interested in reading them! :D****

 ** **But seriously, please tell me how I did. I want to make sure if every character is kind of true to their personality. Also, does this need a new title? I couldn't think of one, and this is the best I could come up with. D:****

 ** **Anyways, hope you all enjoyed it so far! Do whatever you feel like; fave, follow, review, it's all cool! :D****

 ** **Keep on rocking everyone! :)****

 ** **(And who knows, maybe I'll make more Gumball/Elmore Girls in the future! I do like to make a story with him and Carrie someday. ;D )****

 ** **-TSP****


	2. Pinky Promise

**WOW! Thank you all for the great reviews AND views! I really appreciate them! I'm glad this story has caught all of your interests so far! :)**

 **Well, this one will be about Gumball and his home-life after the near-death experience. So without further ado, here it is! Oh! Actually, one last thing, Heart of Writing is my beta for this, so mad props for her on looking through it and betaing it! Thanks so much! :D**

 **Here we go!**

* * *

Gumball exited out of the boy's bathroom, somewhat in a daze over what just occurred. He replayed the events in his mind, trying very hard to comprehend on what had happened back there.

Jamie, _his bully_ , kissed him on the cheek.

' _Did that_ really _happen?'_ Gumball thought as he walked in the halls, mildly stroking the bruised cheek that Jamie kissed on.

As he turned to a corner, he heard the sound sneakers hitting on school floors coming towards him. He looked up to see Darwin dashing towards him.

"Gumball!" Darwin exclaimed as he skidded to a stop, "Oh _no_! I'm too late! Your face is all beaten up! _No_ , I should've been _there_! _WHY_!?" Darwin fell on his knees and started wailing over-dramatically for his brother/friend.

Gumball blinked, "Dar, calm down, I'm alright. I mean, sure my face is beaten a bit, but I'm still alive. Besides, the bruise isn't even all that bad."

Darwin sniffled, "But…but I could've been there, man! I let you get beaten up by Jamie!"

"Hey, no man, really, it's fine. I-" he remembered what Jamie said about keeping what they agreed on to themselves, "…I actually had it coming."

"What!?" Darwin exclaimed in shock, "What do you mean you 'had it coming'!? Jamie shouldn't have harassed you in the first place!"

"Darwin, seriously, don't worry about it. What's done is done." Gumball assured him.

"No, that's the problem! It's been 'done' for too long! I'm not going to let Jamie harass you anymore! It's my job as a brother to help out a brother! I'm going to watch out for you and fight for you to stop Jamie's bullying ways! I'll-"

"Dude, it's okay! She…really didn't hurt me that bad." Gumball said, wincing a little bit at the half-truth.

"But that bruise on your face!" Darwin said in concern.

"Actually…" Gumball stopped for a moment, thinking of what to say to make Darwin calm down. _'Well…maybe I can put a little bit of the truth on there…but not enough to tell him what really happened.'_ "Um…she really didn't go all-out on me. I actually apologized for what I said and…she…basically went easy on me." _'I really do hope Jamie is gone and not listening to this…or anyone else for that matter.'_

"You apologized!? And she still hit you!? That _animal_!" Darwin exclaimed in distaste. "She should be apologizing to _you_!"

"Well, yeah look, just-just forget about it okay?" Gumball said quickly, wanting to end this conversation.

"How can I forget about what she's done to my bro!? She's gone too far this time! She should've-"

"Darwin! Please, just let it go!" Gumball said in desperation, almost begging. "Really, I'm kind of at fault here too! I was the one that pulled her pants down in front of everyone!"

Surprised at the sudden outburst, Darwin frowned, "But-"

"Dar, no worries. It's okay. It's not really a big deal. I came out of it just fine." Gumball looked down to think for a second until he looked back up, "Look, we don't need to tell mom and dad about this, okay?"

Darwin looked confused, "What? But why?"

"I just don't want them to make things worse and get involved, alright?" Gumball said to his fish brother.

"Wait, she didn't threaten you, did she!?" Darwin asked in dreadful realization.

"No! She didn't." Gumball really wishes his brother would just drop this subject. "Look, Darwin, as your bro, just trust me on this, okay? Don't tell mom and dad about what happened today, alright?" Gumball said sternly.

The fish boy blinked, "W-Well…" he shifted his eyes left and right and looked down, thinking about it.

"Darwin…" Gumball said, his voice firm but pleading as well.

Darwin stayed silent for about three seconds, and sighed. "Okay…" he said solemnly.

Gumball smiled. "Thanks."

"I still should've been there to bail you out though." Darwin muttered glumly.

"Hey, no worries. Jamie can be pretty scary at times." Gumball smirked. _'And hot.'_ He blinked at that thought. "Darwin, I didn't say anything out-loud just now, did I?"

Darwin blinked again in puzzlement, "Uh…you said that Jamie could be scary at times…"

"…Okay then. Just wondering." _'Man, I really do need a nap.'_

The two went back to their lockers to gather their stuff, all the while the males who were present at the scene patted Gumball on the back for doing something totally 'awesome'(and letting them witness a sight they will never forget). They exited the school and headed to Gumball's car.

"I do have to say, that was one brave move you did back there to Jamie." Darwin said, "Who would've known that she wears _pink_ underwear?"

"Uh, yeah, uh, that was, uh…um, you-you know, let's not talk about that." Gumball said nervously. He was trying his best not to imagine that tantalizing image of Jamie again…in her underwear.

Darwin, thinking that Gumball was trying to forget about what happened(and in a sense, he was), nodded, "Understood. You been through a lot." He then put a hand on his chin, "But…how _are_ you going to explain this to mom and dad?"

When they almost reached his car, Gumball stopped in his tracks at the question, "Huh. Um…I'll just say that I got in a fight and I won."

Darwin just looked at him weirdly, "Really? No offense Gumball, but you're really not one to start fights and win them. Besides, mom will see through your story."

Gumball groaned, "Look, just cover me for a bit when we get home, alright? I'll go and put some of mom's makeup on to cover up the bruise."

"…Wow, that sounds _really_ weird, dude."

He frowned at Darwin, "Hey, mom's the only one who has blue fur make-up. And it's a small price to pay for them to not know what happened."

"You know, you _could_ just _tell_ them what happened." Darwin insisted.

Gumball sighed, "Darwin, we had this discussion."

Darwin rolled his eyes, "Okay. I still think it's not wise to keep this from them."

"Trust me on this, dude. It's better if they don't know." Gumball said as he opened his driver's door. _'Especially since it's me that beat my face senseless.'_

Darwin sighed, "Okay, if you say so…" her then went around the front passenger side to sit next to Gumball. As soon as he started the car, they drove out of the parking lot and went home.

* * *

As soon as they neared their home, Darwin noticed the lack of their parent's car at the driveway. "Well, mom, dad, and Anais aren't back yet from looking through colleges." Darwin stated.

Gumball sighs in relief, "Good, that means I got time." Gumball says as he parks up to the curb of their house.

Their little sister Anais is still a grade up ahead of Gumball and Darwin, making her a senior at the age of nine. Today, she wasn't in school because she was looking around colleges in town with her parents. Frankly, it surprised Gumball how his little sister could now be applying for colleges at such a young age, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't proud of her.

They got out of the car as Gumball rushed to the front door, Darwin running up behind him. As his brother looked through his keys on his keychain to unlock the front door, the fish boy thought about Gumball's hesitation to not telling his parents.

' _I wonder why Gumball is keeping this a secret? I thought at times like this, you have to inform the parents about these kind of things?'_ Darwin thought in question.

Gumball then found the key and unlocked the front door. They went inside their home as the cat boy ran up the stairs to their parent's bathroom. He opened up the medicine cabinet and tried to find his mom's make-up kit. Once he found it, he opened it and stared at the blue powdery substance.

He sighed, "I can't believe I'm doing this." He used the swab and dabbed the make-up and applied it to his bruised cheek. It stung just a bit, but he sucked it up as he added more on it. He looked at the vanity mirror to see his handiwork.

"Are you sure you don't want to just tell them?" Darwin said as he came up to the doorframe.

He sighed again, this time heavily, "Yes, Darwin, I'm sure."

Darwin only shook his head sympathetically at him and sighed, "Okay. By the way, I think I see mom and dad pulling up."

"Ah, crap!" Gumball dabbed some more make-up on his cheek and once he was done, he but the swab in the kit and put it back where he found it. He passed Darwin and dashed to his room, closing the door and putting his backpack on the bottom of his bunkbed. Sitting on his chair in front of his computer, he pretended to be surfing the internet, his back facing the door.

' _Okay, just act casual and don't sweat as much.'_ Gumball thought he turned on the computer.

A little while later, the door opened.

"Gumball?" he heard his sister's childish voice.

The previously mentioned cat person turned his left side of his body to her, "Oh, hey Anais."

"Hey! We brought back some milkshakes for you and Darwin if you want them." Anais offered, holding her milkshake in her hand.

Now that Anais is nine, the adorable little pink rabbit girl was wearing simple clothes, these clothes being small kids jeans, and a pink and yellow striped shirt, complete with white tennis shoes. Her rabbit ears are down to make it look like they're pigtails, while her hair was short, reaching to the middle of her neck.

"Ah, really!? Thanks!" Gumball said with a smile.

"Did somebody say milkshakes!?" Darwin came up the doorframe in excitement.

"Yeah, mom and dad have them downstairs." Anais said.

"Do they have my _favorite_?" Darwin asked with sparkly eyes.

Anais smiled, "Yep! Chocolate fudge swirl with extra whip-cream!"

" _I must_ _ **have**_ _it_!" Darwin says dramatically as he bolted downstairs.

Anais giggled, and turned her attention to her big brother, "We got your favorite as well! You want to come downstairs and get it?"

Before Gumball was about to say "Absolutely!", he stopped and considered this decision. If he did go downstairs, his mom and dad will probably see the added make-up on his cheek, which will result in them being in their over-protective parent mode.

"Uh…actually, I'm really busy studying something right now. Homework and stuff. Maybe you can bring it up here." He said with a smile that he hoped didn't look too forced.

Anais blinked, "You're doing your homework? _You_?"

Gumball frowned, "Hey, I study at times."

Anais raised an eyebrow and looked over at the backpack on the bottom part of the bunkbed; it wasn't zipped open…

"What are you studying?" Anais asked Gumball.

Gumball eyes tried not to widened in shock at the question. _'Oh crap! Darn it, let me think, uh…'_ "I'm…studying on how molecules affect…air?"

The little rabbit girl looked unsure of his answer as she tilted her head to see the computer screen.

Gumball knew what she was doing and said, "Hey! I just turned it on! I was going to research it."

Anais stared at him…until she shrugged, "Okay. Sorry, and no offense, I just thought I would never see the day _you_ would be serious about doing your homework. Usually, I help you with it."

"None taken. And hey, maybe I decided to catch you a break. By the way, how was the college search?" Gumball asked, trying to change the topic.

Anais smiled, "It was great! I'm thinking of going to Persnick. That's closest to home, and I really like the professors there! They were really impressed with me!"

Gumball chuckled a bit, "I bet they were, seeing a nine-year-old coming to their campus to apply."

His little sister giggled as she beamed. "Thanks! Well, I'll be right back with your milkshake!" and with that, Anais went downstairs.

Sighing in relief, Gumball went back to staring at the computer screen. _'Whew! Glad that was avoided. Usually Anais reads me like a book.'_

He sat there in his seat, contemplating if he should probably do what he said he was going to do.

' _Might as well.'_

So he looked up "How molecules affect air," on his web browser.

He heard Anais' footsteps coming up the stairs and into his room. She walked up to her older brother, who was still seated.

"Here you go!"

Gumball turned to his right with a smile, and reached over to get his milkshake. "Thanks, Anais!"

"No prob-" Anais paused from giving him his shake as she looked at Gumball curiously. "Wait…are you wearing Mom's make-up?"

His eyes widened. _'_ _Oh…crap. Maybe I shouldn't have turned to my right.'_

"W-What?"

Anais reached a finger to Gumball's cheek (which he winced due to the bruise) touched it, and rubbed the substance between her index and thumb to feel it. She looked at the smudged blue make-up on her finger tips.

"…Um…why are you wearing make-up?" Anais asked, truly weirded out by this revelation.

"Uh-ummm…" Gumball was cornered. He really couldn't come clean, he couldn't. And he should've known that Anais was going to figure out sooner or later; she was great at being perceptive. He had to think of something, but all that was coming out of his mouth was, "Uhhhh…"

That was when his little sister realized something. "Hold on…there's only one side of your face covered in make-up."

Did Gumball mention she was great at being perceptive?

"No it's not! I-I mean…" Gumball looked from left to right to see if there was a way out of this. Sadly, he came to grips that there was nowhere to run - even in his own house. He could jump out the window, but that would cause more pain to him when he landed.

"Wait a minute…Gumball, did something happened at school?" Anais asked, now looking concerned.

"W-Why would you think that?" He asked, wishing that he could just get his milkshake and enjoy it without being asked so many certain questions.

"Well, usually when someone wears a great amount of make-up, that person is trying to hide some sort of bruise. Usually women do that from what I see in TV shows. And seeing that you don't add make-up at all for obvious reasons, you're pretty much hiding something…right?" She asked, hoping that was the case as her expression looked disturbed. "Please tell me that's the case, because I don't want you to be even weirder than you already are."

' _Well, great. Now I'm in a position that I can't get out of. I can't try to lie to Anais, she'll definitely see right through me more than Mom! Darn it, why can't she be like all the nine-year-old girls that just play with dolls, and not try to apply for college?'_ Gumball thought anxiously.

"Uh…I, um…"

Anais looked sympathetic. "Gumball…what happened?"

Gumball sat there…he took a deep breath. "Okay, look…I…kind of got in a fight."

"What? You did?" Anais' eyes widened in shock.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it's nothing. It's resolved."

Anais raised an eyebrow. "Resolved? What do you mean by that?"

"W-Well, it's…just resolved. Nobody got hurt."

His sister looked at him dubiously.

"Uh...okay, well, maybe I got a bruise on my cheek - but seriously, it wasn't bad. No one's to blame. It's just a mishap and everyone is fine."

Anais just stared at him. "…Okay…who exactly is 'everyone'?"

Gumball inwardly winced. "Just, you know…people…"

She gave him a disbelieving look. "Gumball, you're not making much sense. What's resolved? What is the mishap? Who are the 'people' that hurt you?"

"Hey, I'm not hurt that bad! It's just a bruise, I can tough it out."

"You're avoiding the questions."

"Look, I'm fine! Can I just have my milkshake and drink it in peace!?" Gumball said exasperatedly. He didn't want to sound rude, but he just couldn't tell his sister that he punched himself in the face so he can cover for a girl that was trying to keep a reputation…honestly, he kind of wished Jamie clobbered him now, so he didn't have to deal with this interrogation from Anais - as well as future ones.

…He really should've thought this through a little better.

Anais just kept staring at him, not even flinching. "Tell you what; how about you tell me what _really_ happened, and I'll give you the milkshake, plus I won't tell Mom and Dad. I'm thinking Darwin knows, right?"

"...Kind of." Gumball relented. Could he really tell his sister about this? He sighed, "Look, you're…you're serious about not telling Mom and dad?"

"Of course. If you want to hide that bruise with Mom's make-up so bad, then something else is going on." Anais grew concerned again, "You're not being threatened, are you?"

"No! She didn't-" Gumball stopped in mid-sentence for a second as he frightfully realized that he gave away too much information. "…threaten me!" He finished, really hoping his sister didn't catch that first part.

"…She?"

' _Who am I kidding? This is a girl who's eight years younger than me, and going to college.'_

"Uhhhh…"

"…Okay, now we're getting somewhere," Anais said with a smirk. "So…a _girl_ threatened you?"

"No! I-I mean, look, this person did not threaten me!"

"Then what did she do?"

Gumball groaned. "Look, Anais, not only can I not tell Mom and Dad about this, but I couldn't even tell Darwin about it either. Sure, he knows, but he doesn't know everything. In fact, don't spread this around to other people that we do know, okay?"

Anais blinked. "…What in the world _happened_ , Gumball?"

"I…can't really say," he answered lamely.

"Well, you're doing a good job opening up so far," Anais reassured as she sat down on the floor. "Look, please tell me. You're my big brother, and if it's something you really want to keep secret from Mom and Dad and everyone else - including Darwin, then I understand. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"Really?" Gumball asked hopefully.

"Yeah! We'll even do a pinky promise!" Anais held out her pinky in front of him. "What do you say?"

Gumball smiled. Even though Anais was mature for her age, she still held that childish part of her.

"Well…okay," he agreed, wrapping his pinky around hers; sealing the promise.

"Great!" she let go, and asked "Now, what happened at school today?"

Gumball sighed. "…Okay, look…she didn't hurt me…I did."

Anais' eyes widened in surprise. "What? _You_ cause that bruise to yourself!?"

"There was a reason!" Gumball defended. "She…didn't want to do it, so I punched myself to help her out."

The little rabbit girl stared at her cat brother in confusion. "…Wait, so…you…punched yourself, because Jamie didn't want to punch you?"

"Well, yeah, but-" Gumball paused. "...Wait a second, you _knew_ it was Jamie the whole time!?" he said in incredulous disbelief.

"Kind of. When you said that the person was a 'she', I was surprised, but I put two and two together from the times Jamie has been harassing you. So what did you do? Jamie doesn't usually get violent with you, so you must've ticked her off about something."

"Well…yeah, I kind of did," Gumball said as he looked down in shame. He then explained to Anais the whole fiasco, with him snapping at Jamie, to insulting her.

"Wait, so she did hit you…" Anais clarified.

"Yeah, but it was just one time. I kind of deserved it, really. Then she egged me on to hit her back, but I couldn't. So…" he started to blush, "…I took a different approach."

Anais raised an eyebrow. "And that would be…?"

"…I pulled her pants down for everyone to see."

The young rabbit girl just stared at him with wide unblinking eyes. "…You did _what_!?" Anais exclaimed in shock.

"Shhh!" Gumball shushed her.

"Gumball, that was stupid, even for you!" Anais scolded him.

"I know, I know, and I just realized that when I did it! But I was angry!"

"And you took your anger out by humiliating her!? I would punch you in the face as well if you did that to me!"

"Hey, you know I wouldn't do that to you!" Gumball then looked at the floor and muttered, "Besides, it's not like she looked bad, or anything."

Anais blinked. "What?"

Gumball's looked up at his sister, eyes widened in shock. "T-That wasn't supposed to come out."

His sister stared at him oddly.

"A-Anyways, so yeah, I did that, I ran, she chased me to the boy's bathroom-"

"Really? She entered the boy's bathroom?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I was shocked too. So she followed me there, found me, and she was about to deliver the pain on me when I started to give her a long apology about how I acted. And…she didn't hit me."

Anais blinked again. "Wow…must be a good apology."

"I would like to think so," Gumball muttered. "But yeah, I guess she appreciated what I said, and said that she needed me to beat myself up, so she can have her reputation. She also said she'll go easy on me from now on."

Anais' looked interested upon hearing the last part.

Gumball continued on, saying "So…yeah, that's how it happened."

Anais put a hand on her chin, and looked thoughtful. "Hmm…interesting."

"Yeah…" he sighed. "Look, Anais, you won't say a word to anyone about this - not even Darwin, right?"

"Hey, I pinky promised," she held up a hand in oath. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Gumball smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

"No prob. Although, I am curious; what _did_ she meant by going easy on you 'from now on'?" Anais asked.

Gumball blinked dumbly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like she won't harass you anymore, or will she harass you less?"

He never thought about that. Gumball looked down in thought, absentmindedly rubbing his right finger on his bruised cheek…the one Jamie kissed him on. He stopped rubbing his cheek for moment, blushing a tad bit. He tried not to think about it by having a blank look on his face.

"Uh…I…don't particularly know."

Anais noticed the slight blush on her brother's face and put her hand on her chin again, looking at Gumball with curiosity.

"Hmm…"

Hearing her humming in thought, Gumball looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. So, do you think things will be different now, since you reconciled with her?"

"Um…that I don't know as well. Maybe. I mean, we could be friends now."

Anais shrugged. "Well, either way, I won't tell anyone that you beat yourself up and about Jamie. However, I feel like you're leaving some stuff out."

Gumball's eyes widened, but he recovered by furrowing his brows. "Huh? What do you mean? I'm not leaving stuff out."

She raised a dubious brow. She rolled her eyes saying "Okay, I'll let it go for now, but know that you can talk to me about it anytime. With that said, here's your milkshake." She gave the shake to Gumball, who took it from her with an appreciative expression.

"Thanks, Anais," he said with a smile.

"No problem," she smiled as well. "But what are you going to do about Mom and Dad? Mom will surely know sooner or later."

Gumball cringed. "Uh, yeah…would they believe that I stopped a fight?"

Anais thought about it. "Probably. You need a convincing story though."

"Yeah, you're right," he said, crossing his arms and nodding his head at the idea, while he was thinking on what he could come up with.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something," Anais smirked.

Gumball turned his head and blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's not that hard. Banana Joe ticked off Tobias, Tobias was going to punch him and you intervened, thus getting accidentally punched in the face."

"…That's pretty good."

Anais giggled as she got up. "Thanks. Use that excuse, and in the meantime, try not to get into too much _trouble_ with Jamie, alright?" she said with a wink.

Gumball raised an eyebrow. ' _Uh…was there a hidden meaning to that? What's with the wink?_

"See ya at dinner, Gumball!" Anais said, turning around and walking out of their room.

"Huh…well, either way, I'm glad that's taken care of." He glanced at his milkshake. "I wonder though…does that really make Jamie and me kind of friends now?" He then sipped his shake.

"Mmm…cookies and cream."

He sat there for a bit…

Gumball sighed. "Well, I'll know tomorrow," he smiled. "I really wouldn't mind though. It could be kind of cool being sort-of-friends with her. I mean, she certainly does have a soft spot, and for a tough gal, she really is ho- _oooooh_ _no_! No, no, no, no, _no_! NO! Do _not_ think that! DON'T!" He then started to sip his milkshake to cancel out any impure thoughts of Jamie. However, he sipped a little too fast.

"AAAAUGH! Oh, oh, _oooooh_! Ack! Brain freeze, brain freeze, _brain freeze_!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in another house, Jamie was laying on her bed in her room, walls filled with heavy metal and punk rock band posters. She has her hands behind her head, boots off, and was looking up at the ceiling, thinking about a certain teenaged blue cat boy…

Jamie snorted a chuckle, "That dork…" a blush formed on her cheeks. "He's lucky he's cute…"

* * *

 **And that's chapter two! Next chapter will probably be a little while to write, as I have other projects to work on. But in the meantime, tell me how I did with this chapter! :D**

 **Thanks for reading! Keep on rocking everybody! :)**

 **-TSP**


	3. The Tutor

****Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. I was doing some other stuff such as writing other stories, helping out kids with autism this month at a summer clinic camp, life, blah blah, but now I'm here to give you all this chapter! :)****

 ** **I also did some research on TAWOG on the show's Wiki, so my knowledge of the show is somewhat up to date. ^_^****

 ** **Well, that's enough talk! Time to get the chapter rolling! :D****

 ** **[EDIT: 2/7/2018]****

* * *

The day went by rather quickly for Gumball. He still kept the blue makeup on his cheek and applied more, but gently this time until it looked good enough to pass off as his fur (Anais also helped and judged it to see if it was passable). Fortunately, Anais didn't inform Darwin about the real reason he had gotten the bruise. He didn't know how he would explain it to him, or his parents.

He went through dinnertime without anyone noticing the make-up covered spot caked onto his right cheek. He told Darwin about Anais 'knowing' about the situation. The fish boy was glad that his bro had at least told someone about it- albeit Gumball told him that she was keeping it a 'secret' as well. Darwin just decided to go along with it, even though he was confused about the whole thing.

Gumball spent the remainder of the day in his room. The blue cat laid on his bed before drifting to sleep...

He couldn't help but think about tomorrow will bring, and how it will affect his relationship with Jamie...

Until then, he needs more makeup to apply on his cheek...

* * *

 _ _The Next Day...__

"See you guys later!" Anais said she went over to her respective locker.

"See ya, Anais!" Darwin said with smile and wave, while Gumball smiled and waved back at his little sister as well. After putting their book-bags in their lockers, they grabbed their respective textbooks and walked to their classes; Gumball had English/Creative Writing Class, while Darwin had Science/Biology.

"Well, I'll see ya at lunch, Darwin," Gumball said to him as he approached his class.

"See ya then, Gumba-" Darwin paused and stopped in his tracks, a look of fear on his face.

Gumball looked at him strangely and turned around.

Coming around the corner came Jamie, wearing a zipped up black hoodie jacket, jean shorts, black and purple horizontal striped thigh-high stockings completed with black army boots along with the same punk-metal bracelets she wore yesterday. She was carrying her textbook, and was walking towards the same class Gumball was going to.

 _ _'Oh yeah, she goes to my English class,"__ thought Gumball. He blinked, remembering something else. __'Oh wait...yeah. I wonder if she's any different now after yesterday. I also wonder if she kept her word on not telling anyone about me crying about Penny...'__

All of a sudden, Darwin pulled on his arm to whisper in his ear. "It's okay man, I got your back."

"What?" Gumball said, startled as he glanced at his fish bro. He turned his gaze back to Jamie, who was approaching them. He stared at her, wondering what action she would take.

She came up to the classroom door where Gumball and Darwin were next to and glanced at them. She looked at them strangely, but as she turned her head to Gumball he noticed that her eyes held a strange hint of mirth in them.

Gumball blinked and slightly gulped.

The look in her eyes vanished as she bluntly and rudely said "Yeah? What're you all looking at?" She then entered the classroom, leaving the two standing in the hall for a while.

Once she was out of earshot, Darwin broke the silence by saying with contempt "Meanie." he looked up at Gumball with pity. "See ya around Gumball. Just don't try to flinch under her gaze."

"Um...thanks, Darwin. I won't," Gumball said awkwardly.

Darwin nodded and left for his class. Gumball went into his classroom to see that everyone, including the teacher, was mostly seated at their desks. Jamie was sitting in the upper right fourth (out of five) row desk near the window. Seeing that some of the second row of desks in the class were unoccupied, he decided to sit at the desk in the third middle row.

Gumball sat there for a bit as he waited for everyone to come in, as well as listening to the final bell...

 _ _'Huh...I just noticed something...no one is looking or murmuring about me...'__ he looked around the classroom to see that everybody was minding their own business. __'Then...Jamie kept her word?'__

To be perfectly honest, he kind of forgot about his crying episode about Penny. He didn't even bother to mention it to his sister; he didn't want her to know that he cried over his ex-girlfriend. Gumball guessed that maybe after that near-death experience with Jamie, he just didn't think about it...

Or maybe something else kept his mind occupied, like the kiss on the cheek Jamie gave him...

Gumball was about to touch his cheek again but stopped as he remembered that if he did, it would smear the makeup. He turned his head to his left and took a short, timid glance at Jamie. She was resting her head on her arms. As soon as she noticed Gumball, she turned her gaze towards him. He quickly averted his attention away from Jamie and sat stiffly in his chair.

As he sat there in the classroom waiting for the bell to ring, he couldn't help but think, __'Why do I get the feeling that today is going to be interesting?'__

* * *

Their English teacher Mr. Douglas; who was an orange owl wearing a suit and glasses, taught the remainder of the lesson to his students. As soon as the lesson was over, he began telling everyone their assignment for the next day.

Gumball was finishing up his schoolwork, and writing his assignment down when he saw Jamie from his peripheral vision. She was walking through the row of desks while carrying her textbooks by her side. When she wasn't looking, he slightly looked up to see her leaving figure out of the classroom...

Once she left, he wondered to himself if it would be a good idea to talk to her in private.

 _ _'Probably. I just need to find a way to approach her...'__

He soon continued writing down today's assignment and got up to grab his stuff. As soon as he started walking out of the door, Mr. Douglas called out to him.

"Um, Mr. Watterson, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Gumball stopped and turned to his English teacher. "Huh? Um...okay." He walked over to Mr. Douglas' desk.

"I was listening in class, honest."

"Oh no, no, it's not that. Although I do appreciate that you've been paying attention to my lessons," Mr. Douglas chuckled; which sounded like little 'hoo's' coming out of his beak. Mr. Douglas was probably the only teacher who didn't nag at him too much, and for that Gumball was grateful.

"I actually want to talk to you about the poem that you worked on yesterday in class."

"Oh...um, is it okay?" Gumball asked.

"Well..." Mr. Douglas took the time to get the poem out of a drawer from his desk. He looked at the sheet of paper. "Your poem...it's...well..." he lowered the piece of paper and looked at his student in concern. "Actually Mr. Watterson, I noticed that you've been quite distracted lately in the class. I can see that you have great potential when you put your mind to it. However, your poem, it's...well...it isn't finished."

"It's not?"

"No, um...it isn't. I actually told you and the class to write a six-sentence poem talking about your feelings on certain topics and you've only written...two sentences."

"Oh, um...there was supposed to be six? I'm sorry, I, uh...must not have heard that."

Mr. Douglas gave him a look that said he wasn't buying it. "Gumball, I think I get the feeling that you did hear me. And from your poem, it says." The teacher cleared his throat and read "I have lost something dear. Something that was very near..." Mr. Douglas looked at Gumball with concern.

"Mr. Watterson, is everything alright with you lately?"

"Uh...w-well..."

 _ _'Oh damn. Why did I write that? WHY!? I should've thought of something better to write other than that!'__

Gumball tried to think of an explanation that wasn't about his breakup. He really didn't want any of the teachers to know about his relationship problems, especially since it happened during his sophomore year.

"That, um...that was about a pet I owned when I was thirteen." It was kind of true since his family owned a dog when he was thirteen-years-old. "He...uh, he died." That was a lie, however. The dog didn't die naturally or been hit by a car or anything, they just sold it to new owners because it kept attacking Gumball and his mother Nicole.

...Now that Gumball thought about it, that dog was a little prejudiced.

Mr. Douglas studied him for a moment. He frowned as he nodded solemnly. "Oh...well, I'm very sorry then."

"It's okay," Gumball said with a shrug. "I guess I'm just not that good of a poet."

"Oh, I wouldn't think that. Have you heard the saying 'I'm a poet and don't know it'?" Mr. Douglas softly chuckled/hooed. "Anyone can be a poet! These two sentences in your poem say so!"

"Well...I can't really think of anything after those two sentences. It's...kind of depressing for me." This was also true. For obvious reasons, his poem about Penny(and not his dog) seriously just drained the life out of him. Honestly, he pretty much said all that he could say on the matter about his ' _ _dog'__. He didn't want to continue writing it to remind himself of his depressing breakup with Penny.

"Hmm...well Gumball, I don't want to depress you, but since you wrote it, you might as well finish it to earn that grade." Mr. Douglas said with sympathy.

Gumball sighed, "I know...' he then mumbled, "I just need some help, I guess..."

Mr. Douglas smiled. "Well, you're just in luck! Usually every year I assign tutors to help certain students who have problems with their literature work - poems more specifically! I'll assign someone to help you out!"

Gumball's eyes went wide. "What?"

"I mean if that's alright with you?"

Gumball wanted to say 'NO', but he paused for a moment to think about it. His English teacher was only trying to help, and the poem didn't __really__ have to be about Penny...it __could__ be about his former pet dog...

 _ _'Aw heck, why not? It's not like I'm actually telling a lie...well, I kind of am, but hey, at least I'm telling a half-lie.'__

"Eh, okay, why not?" Gumball shrugged.

"Splendid! In fact, after school, head to the library. In the meantime, I'll assign your tutor to meet up with you!"

"Um...okay, thanks."

"Oh, no problem!" Mr. Douglas gave him back his poem. "Here, put this in your locker so you can show the tutor what you're working on. Now, I've used up all of your time, so be off to your next class!" he said with a happy smile.

"Uh, alright." And with that, Gumball walked out of the classroom.

As he walked out, he thought to himself, __'Well...this probably won't be so bad. It's just a poem, how hard could it be? The only thing I need to do is just not write about Penny...'__

He stopped in his tracks and stood there. He sighed. "Why did I use that dog excuse though? I hated Victor..."

"Yo, Gumball!"

Gumball straightened up and turned to see who called out to him. Of course, judging by the voice he already knew who it was.

 _ _'Aw, crap...'__

It was Tobias...

He came up to Gumball and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, taking him off guard.

"Ack!"

" _ _Dude__! Man, I cannot get over the fact that you __pantsed__ Jamie!" Tobias said with a laugh.

Tobias was still the little orange troll that he was back in Junior High. Gumball's friend (sometimes) was exactly the same height as him and wore normal clothes fit for a 'jock', complete with a school jacket and all. He played on the basketball team and developed a bit of an ego as a result. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't all that great at it. He still had his light blue puff of slightly larger hair poking out of his head with the same sweatband wrapped around the top of it. Gumball always wondered if he ever washed that thing...

Banana Joe came up to the two with a chortle. "Hehehe, yeah! That was hardcore!"

Joe was still pretty much the same class clown he was in the school, with his brown bowl-like haircut, short stature, and normal (sometimes yellowish) looking clothes.

"I'm just surprised Jamie punched you instead of straight up __massacring__ you! Usually, if any guy did that to her, they would've had a limp. Speaking of which, are you wearing makeup?"

Gumball just frowned as he glared at Tobias. "What do you think?"

"Hey, easy," Tobias said, unwrapping his arm off of Gumball's neck and raising his hands in defense. "I don't know why you would want to cover that up. That's a keepsake in my opinion."

"Really?" Gumball asked sarcastically.

"Hell yeah! That could give you some mad street cred!" Tobias smirked. He frowned thoughtfully. "Although, you __did__ get beaten up by a girl..."

"Look, I really appreciate it if we steer away from this topic of me being-" Gumball paused for a second, but kept going " _ _beaten__ up by Jamie. Please?"

Tobias shrugged, "Eh, fair enough." Then with a cheeky grin, he whispered to Gumball "We can talk about how Jamie actually looks good in pink."

Gumball blinked his wide eyes and blushed. "I...don't think I want to talk about that."

"Oh come on, why not!?" Tobias asked, his voice raised a little bit. "Even you got to admit, for a bully chick, Jamie looks __fiiiine__! I mean, whatever workout plan she's been doing to keep herself looking like __that__ NEEDS to be shared with the rest of girls at school!"

"Oooh, now __that__ would make going to school all the more enjoyable! Hehehe!" Joe said as he giggled in a creepy way.

"Aww, __yea-yeah__ , don't you know it!" Tobias replied with a perverted grin and a high-five back at Joe, who returned it.

Gumball just stared at them in annoyance. "And you wonder why you can't hook up with girls."

Tobias rolls his eyes. "Man, shut up. But seriously, who would've thought that Jamie wears __pink panties__? Speaking of which, she was sporting them __nicely__." He still had that same perverted grin on his face, "I wish I had a pic of __that__ on my phone!"

Joe, with a sly grin, said: "I still do."

"For real!?" Tobias exclaimed, turning to Joe. "Text that to me immediately!"

"Will do!" Joe then started texting the picture to Tobias.

As Gumball watched Banana Joe send the picture to Tobias, he was starting to feel a little aggravated. Sure, Jamie wasn't always tolerable, but she isn't as bad now as she was back then; she even mellowed out on the insults and harassment of people when she entered high school. And now that Jamie and he were 'sort of' friends(he thinks?), he feels like he had the obligation to tell Tobias and Joe to quit what they were doing. Besides, the kids in the hall could pass by and sneak a look on both of their phone screens, the image of Jamie with her pants down being displayed...

And for that, Gumball felt...guilty. Because of him, Jamie was getting unwanted attention from perverts like Tobias and Joe.

Gumball frowned and thought, __'Aw man...now I feel even more like a jackass...'__

Thinking about it made him feel even more ashamed, but it also made him frustrated at the two that were apparently interested in the color of Jamie's underwear.

"Aw, __hell__ __yeah__! Damn, that's sexy!" Tobias said with sparkles in his eyes and an overly happy but creepy grin. It would seem that he got the picture on his phone.

Gumball frowned at them even further. Enough was enough, "Guys, come on, delete that right now."

Tobias and Joe turned to Gumball with shocked looks on their faces. " _ _Delete__ it? Why the heck would we do that?" Joe asked in an incredulous tone.

"Yeah! I mean I just now got this on my phone! I ain't gonna delete this work of art that __you__ did! You should be proud of this! Besides, this should be payback for what she did to you," Tobias stated.

Gumball clenched his right fist in aggravation. He couldn't reason with them about why he thought they should erase the picture, lest they get suspicious about __his__ reasons...

...Wait, what __were__ the reasons? Well, they did make a deal to not tell each other about what the other had done/revealed right in front of them. That, and she didn't beat him up; which he was grateful for...

In the end, he decided to just tell them the consequences. "Have you ever thought that maybe she'll kill you both if she catches you two with that picture?"

"And that's the keyword there: __if__. Besides, I think everyone is smart enough to not post this bad boy on the internet. I'm just keeping this moment to remember it by," Tobias smirked, "as well as use it for some alone time."

Joe laughed at the crude joke. "Oh man, that's nasty!"

Gumball just glared at them. "Okay. I'm done here. Go ahead and keep that picture and be pummeled for all I care."

"Oh come on, don't be like that!" Tobias complained. He turned back to his phone, "Here, I'll just text it to you and we'll keep it a secret."

"No!" Gumball exclaimed, startling Tobias and Joe a bit. He sighed loudly with a hand to his face. "Look, I need to get to my next class. I'll see you guys later or something. Just DON'T look at that picture in the __halls__ at least." And with that, Gumball quickly went to his next class, leaving the two behind.

Tobias and Joe stared at Gumball's retreating form. When he was out of earshot, Joe turned to Tobias and spoke.

"Poor Gumball. He's probably still hung up on Penny."

Tobias nodded, "Hm, yeah. That guy seriously needs to loosen up a bit." He looked thoughtful for a moment as he looked at his phone. "Hmm...maybe I could send the pic to him after school..."

* * *

It was lunchtime, and the students were at their designated tables in the cafeteria. Gumball, Darwin, and Anais all sat at their table when they got their food and discussed the classes they attended.

"You're going to be tutored by someone after school in the library?" Darwin asked Gumball as he ate his lunch.

"Yep. Don't know who, but it's to help with my poem," Gumball said, picking up an apple and taking a bite out of it.

"Well, I guess I can call Dad to pick me up after school then," Anais said from across the table as she ate her salad delicately. "What's the poem about?"

"Uh..." Gumball faltered. "It was about our former pet dog..."

Darwin raised an eyebrow. "Victor? The one that kept attacking you and Mrs. Mom?"

"Um...yes. My topic was about what causes me the most despair," Gumball explained.

Anais looked at him weirdly. "Victor wasn't __that__ bad."

"That's only because he liked you for some reason." Gumball narrowed his eyes at her. "In fact, you were the one that convinced Mom and Dad to bring him home."

Anais shrugged. "I thought he looked cute."

"He __was__ a cute little chihuahua," Darwin nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, he was." She smiled as well, but frowned a little bit "It was sad to give him away though." She looked thoughtful "If I remember correctly, I wrote a poem about losing Victor in Mr. Douglas's class."

"You too?" Gumball said as he drank his milk. His eyes widened at the realization of what he just said.

Anais blinked in confusion as well as Darwin. "What? But you said your poem was of despair..." Anais said.

"And you didn't like Victor at all...right?" Darwin asked with a puzzled look.

Gumball slowly lowered his milk carton from his lips to the tray.

 _ _'I really got to think before I go and say these things.'__

"Um...okay, to answer Anais's question first; yes, it...kind of was in despair. As for your question, Darwin; um...I __didn't__ like Victor, but...I always wondered if he had a good home when we...gave him away?" Gumball explained lamely.

Anais looked at her older brother with a raised eyebrow. She quickly pieced together the puzzle of what Gumball could be hiding.

"Wait...this poem wouldn't really happen to be about Penny, would it?"

Gumball was silent for a moment

Darwin looked at his bro in pity. "Oh, __Gumball__ , Dude _ _.__.."

Anais rolled her eyes, "Gumball, seriously, you need to __move__ __on__ from Penny _ _.__ "

Gumball groaned. "Look, I know, I __know__ , but...it still hurts," he said as he looked down at his tray in melancholy.

Anais sighed. "Gumball, I may not know what a breakup feels like, but from what I've read about these subjects, I can say that I do know that it usually takes time for these wounds to heal. Right now you're not letting time nurture the wounds, you're just putting more salt onto them."

"That's a good metaphor," Darwin complimented.

"Thanks!" Anais smiled at the praise.

Gumball sighed forlornly. "Well, what am I __supposed__ to do?"

"It's simple, Gumball. __Move. On.__ I moved on when we gave Victor away," Anais stated.

"And yet you wrote a poem about him," Gumball retaliated, raising his eyebrow accusingly.

"...Okay, bad example. But-"

"And actually, I haven't seen you move on from Daisy," he mentioned

"I will __NOT__ move on from Daisy!" Anais exclaimed, startling both of her brothers.

"Whoa, whoa, __hey__! Okay, sorry! Just...don't make a scene," Gumball said with his hands raised in defense as he looked around the cafeteria. Darwin just sat there with a scared grimace on his face.

Anais sighed once more. "Okay, __maybe__ I get your point. But still, try dating again at least. Maybe then it'll help you forget about Penny."

"I don't know if I can ever forget about...Pen..." His sentence trailed off as someone caught his eye.

Curious as to who Gumball was staring at, Anais turned around to see that it was Jamie. She was carrying her tray of food to the circled empty table that she always sat a little way off from the other kids. Her back was facing them once she sat down near the table, so she didn't notice Gumball staring at her.

Darwin also followed Gumball's gaze. He grimaced, "Don't look at her, Gumball. She can __sense__ fear."

Gumball snapped out of it. "Say what? Oh! Uh, right, right...thanks, Darwin."

Anais turned back to her brother and looked at him in question.

 _ _'Hmm...interesting.'__

From what she got from Gumball's real explanation, it seemed Jamie had mercy on him...kind of if the covered up bruise was any indication. But she felt that her brother was hiding a minor detail. Yesterday, he had a slight blush on his face when they were talking about what Jamie meant when she said she was going to go easy on him. In fact, Jamie wasn't known to go easy on people in general when they make her angry. Gumball was the only victim that she gave a pass to. Now it could be that she wasn't the bully that she was when she was in Junior High; making her somewhat merciful to other students as she got older. Speaking of getting older, as she did, she started to kind of (sort of) respect the school authority. Well, again, sort of. She still thought the teachers were annoying, but she listened to them.

Despite her bullying, however, she had matured mentally. She knew not to force someone into a relationship now, but maybe that's because she wasn't really looking for any relationship right now...

 _ _'Wait...'__

Anais looked down at her salad in thought.

Speaking of relationships, Jamie never really bothered Gumball when he was with Penny. But when Penny broke up with Gumball, Jamie started to target him more and more; not enough to really harm him though. When Gumball flat out humiliated her, she had every right to punch the living daylights out of him...but she didn't when he apologized to her... _ _and__ she said she'd go easy on him from now on...

Add to the other facts about Jamie that she thought about, the situation seemed like a case of Jamie having hidden feelings...for her __brother__.

Anais blinked. Her mouth then twisted into a more thoughtful frown.

 _ _'It sounds like a plausible theory...but I don't know for certain. So it is what it is: a theory. Still, it's a good one. The only thing that's missing here is why Gumball was so flushed when I mentioned why Jamie decided to go easy on him.'__

"Anais?"

The girl snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at Gumball. "Yeah?"

"What's up? You're looking at your salad pretty intently," he said with concern.

"Was there a bug in it?" Darwin asked.

"Oh, no, just...uh, thinking about quantum physics," Anais lied as she went back to eating her salad.

"Oh," Gumball and Darwin said in unison. They both turned to each other with raised eyebrows. Darwin just shrugged.

As all three of them ate and finished their lunch, they all got their trays and began to walk to the tray conveyor belt to put up their trash. Gumball glanced at the table where Jamie was. She was still sitting there, eating her food all alone...

 _ _'Man, I never realized how empty that table always was...Jamie really is the only one there,' Gumball__ thought with a slight frown.

One would think that this would be a good time to confront her about keeping her word, and seeing how it affects their relationship. But Gumball had the feeling that now wasn't a good time since they were in public. Still, it was kind of hard to not feel sorry for Jamie right now...

He sighed and put up his tray. He then headed to his next class...

* * *

It was the end of the school day, and everyone was out of their classes. Anais went outside to wait for their dad to pick her up, telling them that she'll 'see them later!' Darwin had synchronized-swimming after school, and Gumball went to the library to wait for his tutor.

"Well, good luck on the tutoring, Gumball! I'll see ya!" Darwin said with a wave as he walked to the school's pool.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll need it. See ya," Gumball said with a wave to his bro.

As soon as he got his poem out of his locker, he made his way to the library and entered it. It felt eerily quiet without the students in it, the only person inside being the librarian, Miss Welty. She was literally a bookworm-ish looking woman and was sitting near the checkout desk reading a novel. Seeing that there were tables in front of the entrance to the library, he took a seat and waited for the tutor to arrive.

While he waited, his mind wandered back to Jamie...

He sighed and sat there with his arms crossed on the table, his chin underneath them.

 _ _'Darn it. I didn't get the chance to talk to her today...'__ Gumball's eyes widened in realization, __"Wait a minute...'__ he sat up once more. __'Actually...Jamie didn't bully me__ at all __today...'__

Now __that__ was really peculiar. If that was the case, then...she must've really kept her __word__ then...

He shook his head. __'Wow, I was right. So far today has been interesting...'__

As he sat there, he heard someone entering the library.

He looked up...

...and blinked wide-eyed in shock.

"Jamie!?"

Gumball could hear Miss Welty shush him.

It was, in fact, Jamie. She had her backpack strapped around her shoulders. Once she entered the library and saw Gumball, she smirked.

"What up, Gumbutt?"

"Um...not much..." he said dumbly. "Uh...any reason why you're at the library?"

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Gee, I don't know, probably about to tutor you on your pansy poem?"

Gumball's eyes were wide again, this time his mouth agape.

 _ _'What...what the...no. NO. No way! You've got to be__ kidding __me!'__

"Wait...you're... _ _you're__ my __tutor__!?" he exclaimed.

Miss Welty shushed loudly once more.

* * *

 ** **What a twist! XD But seriously, y'all should've seen this coming. ;D****

 ** **Alright! That's the chapter! Tell me how I did! And thanks to Heart of Writing once again for being my beta! :D****

 ** **Also, I want you all to be patient with me for when I come back to update this. I got other projects that I need to work on, so it'll take a while for me to come back to this story. Besides, I need to plan it out a bit. Aside from the next chapter, I haven't really thought about where to go next in this story. But don't worry, I'll think of something good and entertaining! ;D****

 ** **But either way, I'm glad you're all loving this so far though! :D****

 ** **Thank you all for reading! If you like, leave a review, fav, or follow! You know I always like those! ^_^****

 ** **Keep on rocking everybody! :D****

 ** **-TSP****


	4. Getting To (sort of) Know You

Gumball was at a loss of words...

 _'Is...is this really happening right now?'_ He thought in shock.

Jamie raised her brow. "Yeah, of course I'm your tutor..." she then narrowed her eyes to glare at him. "What, you think I'm too stupid to not know anything about poetry?"

"N-No!" Gumball said in a panic. Miss Welty shushed him. "I-I just-I was just...um..." he cleared his throat, calmed down and acted as casual as he could while sitting in his seat.

"Wow, so, uh, you're my tutor, huh?"

Jamie just rolled her eyes at him and scoffed. "Tch, nice save."

Gumball cringed. "No, seriously, I-I'm not saying you're stupid or anything!" he defended himself. "I-I was just saying-"

Miss Welty shushed him once more.

Gumball turned to the librarian at the desk with an irritated look. "Oh come on, Miss Welty, we're the only ones here!" he exclaimed exasperatedly.

Miss Welty glared at Gumball for his outburst, but soon sighed, shaking her head. She went back to reading her romance novel.

Gumball turned back to Jamie. "Look, I was just...surprised, because I was actually trying to catch up to you without many people seeing us. I wanted to talk to you."

Jamie looked at him oddly, "Really?"

"Yeah, and uh...since you're my tutor, I thought it was good timing."

Jamie studied him for a moment, almost as if trying to see if he was lying or not. Gumball sat there, stiff as a board and starting to sweat from her gaze...

Miss Welty looked up from her book to peek at the scene playing out between the two teenagers.

Jamie stood there... She harrumphed and mumbled, "Okay then." She went around the rectangular table to get a seat next to Gumball; plopping down on it and crossing her legs as well as crossing her arms under her chest. She gave him a look that told him to continue.

"Well? Talk."

Gumball gulped, "Um..." he turned over to where Miss Welty was. He spotted the librarian watching, but she quickly went back to reading her novel. He frowned at her, but soon turned back to Jamie. "Look, um..." he then whispered, "I just want to make sure that you kept your word."

Jamie raised an eyebrow. She also whispered, "Seriously? In case you haven't noticed, Gumbutt, no one gave you a hard time during the whole school day."

"Uh...yeah, I...kind of realized that before you came in..." Gumball said sheepishly.

 _'Well, I realized it a lot earlier in school, but I'm not gonna tell her that...'_

Jamie snickered and rolled her eyes. "Wow, well, whoop-dee-doo to you dork. You get an A+ in observation."

"Heh, uh, yeah..." Gumball rubbed the back of his neck, feeling weird.

"So, is that all you wanted to pointlessly ask me?" Jamie asked bluntly.

"Um, actually..." Gumball paused for a moment until he continued, "In addition to keeping your word, are you...really...gonna go easy on me?" he winced, hoping the answer was a resounding 'yes'.

Jamie's expression changed from amusement to...mild surprise? Her expression then quickly shifted back into a more casual look.

"Yeah," she shrugged.

Gumball blinked in shock. _'Wow...and she said it so nonchalantly...'_

"Wait, so...y-you...are...gonna go easy on me?"

"What, you _want_ me to bother you again? Cause if you do..." Jamie teased with a smirk.

"U-Uh, n-no, no, no. I was just...wondering..." Gumball sat there feeling a little bit awkward.

There was one last thing he wanted to mention...

The kiss on the cheek.

"Uh..."

Jamie raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "What, there's _more_?"

"Well..." He was about to mention it, when something in his mind came to a halt.

 _'Wait a minute...if I ask that, then what would the answer be? Did she kiss me on the cheek for a reason, or was it just because she wanted to mess with me? She couldn't possibly have...well, THOSE type of feelings for me. I mean, she probably did it just to confuse me. Besides, we're on school grounds and Miss Welty is right there at her desk, probably trying to overhear everything...she acts like she's reading, but she's basically the ears of this library. ...Yeah, maybe I shouldn't ask that question. I mean, that's the smart thing to do...right?'_

"Yo Gums, everything working in that head of yours?" Jamie bluntly said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Um...yeah. Never-mind, that's all," Gumball mumbled.

Jamie raised an eyebrow, staring at him for a moment. She shrugged casually. "Okay. Whatever, Gumbutt." She then got her backpack off her shoulders, and laid it down on her lap. "By the way, is that makeup you're wearing?"

Gumball blushed as he scowled, "Yes, okay? I applied makeup from the bruise that I made on my face."

Jamie chuckled as she unzipped her backpack. "Just asking. Looks good on you."

He glared at her, "Hah. Thanks." He turned to his poem sheet that was on the table. He stared at the poem for a second...and made the realization that Jamie will be his _tutor._

"Huh..."

Jamie rummaged through her backpack. "What?" she asked without looking at him.

"I...never knew you like poems." Gumball looked at his right at Jamie.

Jamie paused for a moment... "Yeah. It passes the time." She then continued to find what she was searching for.

"Oh...sooo...that doesn't affect your, um...bully cred or anything?" Gumball asked, turning his head a little to look at her.

"Not really. They know when to shut up about it." Jamie stopped once more and turned her attention to Gumball, giving him an intense stare that looked...unsure?

"What? You think it's strange that I write poems?"

Gumball blinked at the question. "Uh, no...actually, I...I think it's pretty cool that you write poems."

Jamie blinked at him, uncertain how to react to that. Feeling a little self-conscious all of a sudden, but not saying anything, she went back to rummaging through her backpack; putting her face deeper into it to find what she's looking for. Gumball could also see that her face was a little...red?

He looked at her in confusion. "Um..."

Jamie then got out a piece of paper, and slammed it on the table in front of him. Startled, Gumball quickly turned his attention to the paper.

What he saw, made his eyes slightly widened in surprise.

It was a poem...written by Jamie.

"Study this poem for a moment," Jamie instructed him.

"Uh...okay," Gumball said, looking at her written work.

 _-Loss-_

 _Deep within me, I feel a void_

 _What I don't have, I can't avoid_

 _Laughter is always a gift_

 _It comes and goes, as it sees fit_

 _Much like life, we treasure that laughter more and more_

 _However, what I used to have is gone, forevermore._

Gumball stared at the poem, quite impressed with what was written. "Wow..."

"Yeah...that's how you write a good poem," Jamie told Gumball rather confidently.

"Um...yeah, that's...a pretty good poem." Gumball complimented as he glanced back at Jamie.

Jamie harrumphed, looking away from him as she mumbled, "You bet it is..." She turned her head to look at Gumball. "Okay, now show me yours."

Gumball got his book-bag on the table, zipped it open, and took the poem out. "Here it is," he said, showing it to Jamie.

She took it out of his hand and observed it...

"...Wow...only two lines."

Gumball winced, "Um...yeah."

Jamie looked at it some more, reading the lines carefully...she turned her head to him, eyebrow raised, "This poem wouldn't happen to be about _Penny_ , would it?"

Gumball's eyes widened at the claim.

 _'Ah, come on! I'm not that easy to read, am I?'_

"What? Pfft, come on, how pathetic do you think I am?" He said nonchalantly, feigning ignorance.

Jamie just stared at him with a 'really?' look.

Gumball deeply sighed, "Yes..."

She kept staring at him, until she shook her head at him in pity. "Damn, Gumbutt, move on already."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Gumball said annoyed, "I can't just move on from a breakup!"

"That happened almost a _year_ ago!" Jamie reminded him in irritation, emphasizing the word 'year'.

"How would you like it if someone you love goes off somewhere far away?" Gumball said to her frustrated.

The buffalo-lion girl blinked at the question. She frowned, glaring at him. "Well, gee, I guess I wouldn't know. Although, I do happen to have a friend that moved away."

...Eyes widening, Gumball instantly felt stupid for what he just said.

"Oh...u-um..."

 _'Crap. Okay, maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to say.'_

Jamie kept glaring at him, waiting for an answer.

Gumball was starting to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Um..." He took a quick breath. "Okay, look, um...I-I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking...as usual. I'm a complete moron for saying that. Please don't be mad at me..."

...Jamie turned back to his poem in her hands, not saying anything.

"Uh..." Gumball trailed off in silence.

 _'Am I off the hook? I can never tell with her...'_ he thought to himself. He felt really pretty bad for what he said; he didn't mean to come off as a jerk.

He turned back to look at Jamie's poem on the table in front of him while thinking, _'Should I compliment on the poem again? It is pretty good...no, that'll sound like I'm trying to be in good graces with her again. Ugh, what do I do...'_

Gumball blinked as he realized something while rereading Jamie's lines in her poem.

"...Wait..."

Jamie turned her head to Gumball with a raised curious eyebrow.

Gumball read the poem again with a look of realization. He turned his head to Jamie.

"...Is...is this poem about Tina?"

Jamie expression was replaced by a look of eye-widened shock. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, blinking with the same expression on her face, until it changed back into a frown. She turned her head to Gumball's poem once more and mumbled.

"Let's just get back to the assignment."

Gumball gave her a melancholy look. "Jamie-"

"Look, I don't want to talk to you about my problems, alright?" Jamie said abruptly, glancing at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm just here to help you with your stupid poem, make it sound good, and to let it be finished so you can have your grade, okay?"

Gumball's eyes were filled with sympathy as he stared at her for a moment. He then turned his head back to her poem, feeling quite ashamed.

"...I really am sorry."

Jamie stared at him in silence, her glare softening into a neutral expression. Turning her attention to his poem, she stared at it...until she sighed.

"Don't worry about it," she mumbled, "...and I'm sorry too."

Gumball turned to her in slight surprise after hearing the apology. "What?"

"You heard me," she said bluntly, not looking at Gumball.

The blue cat boy just stared at her in shock. _'What the...did...did she just apologize to me again?'_ He turned away from her and blinked.

 _'Am I in the Twilight Zone or something?'_

"So," Jamie started, breaking Gumball from his thoughts. "I heard from Mr. Douglas that you were writing about a poem for your dog that supposedly passed away..." She looked at him with a knowingly raised brow and a smirk.

"But, since you flat out admitted that it was about Penny, this changes _everything._ "

Gumball cringed and muttered. "I didn't really admit it, you just already figured it out..."

"Still, trying to hide your pride, huh?"

He sighed audibly as he rest his elbow on the table, planting his face onto his hand.

Jamie looked at his unfinished poem. "...You know, you could've finished it."

"And embarrass myself? Yeah right," Gumball said sardonically into his hand as he rolled his eyes.

Jamie smirk went a little wider. "You know, on a regular daily bullying basis, I would never let you live this down."

Gumball lift his head off of his hand and looked at her oddly. "Say what now?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, I meant it when I say I'd go easy on ya."

"Wha...wait, really?" Gumball questioned with blinking eyes.

"Yeah, I would like to think we're cool now."

Gumball looked at her in shock. _'Is this the same Jamie that kicked my butt whenever I wasn't looking?'_

"So..." Gumball turned around in his seat to see that Miss Welty was still supposedly reading her book. He turned back to Jamie, whispering, "we're...friends?"

Jamie rolled her eyes. "If you're worried about Miss Welty over there, don't be. She's cool, she can keep secrets." She diverted her attention to the librarian, Gumball turned his head back to her.

"Right, Miss Welty?"

Without looking, Miss Welty gave her a thumbs up while she was reading her book.

"Oh...well...that's something," Gumball said in surprise. He then blinked and turned back to Jamie.

"Wait, what kind of secrets?"

"Tch, nice try. Like I tell you," she scoffed. She smirked, "but to answer your question: yes, we are somewhat friends now. Keep that between us- along with me not hitting you- and we'll be fine."

Gumball looked at her with his mouth partly opened, shocked at this revelation.

"Wait...we _are_ friends?"

"What's the big deal? If you want a straight up answer, then yeah, we're friends," Jamie said nonchalantly as she shrugged.

"...Okay seriously, who are you and what have you done with Jamie?" Gumball asked, a little suspicious.

Jamie rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Look, seriously, if you kept your end of the bargain, then we're cool." She then gave him a quick glare, "If you haven't, then I'll go back to kicking your scrawny ass."

Gumball's eyes widened at the threat. "Hey, _hey_ , no worries! I'm a man of my word, really!"

Jamie nodded, "Good." She then went back to Gumball's poem. "So, you still gonna go with that dog story, or are you gonna tell Mr. Douglas and the whole English class what your poem is really about?"

"That's suicide, you know I can't do that," Gumball said glumly.

"Why not?" Jamie asked turning to him. "It's what the poem is about."

"And let people go down the halls saying: 'Look, it's Gumball, the guy who can't learn to let go'? I'll pass."

"Well, if there really wasn't a dog you owned one time, then I think you're one screwed individual," she said sarcastically with a smirk.

Gumball sighed. "My family did actually owned a dog one time when I was thirteen, but he was...kind of prejudice against me and my mom."

Jamie raised a brow. "Really? What happened to him?"

"We gave him away, and I never looked back that day."

"Wow..." She snickered "Well gee, you should've bought a cat. Maybe then you can relate to it more."

Gumball narrowed his eyes at her. "Ha, very funny."

"Thank you, I thought so," Jamie said with a satisfied smirk. "But seriously, what are you gonna do?"

"Ugh, I don't know," Gumball groaned, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Well, I gotta teach you something to get your 'inner poet' out," Jamie explained.

Gumball groaned again, pitifully this time.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Look, you big baby, the subject can be about your dog in the poem. But you can make it sound like it's from... _Penny._ " She mumbled the last part, looking away and sounding almost irritated to mention Gumball's ex-girlfriend.

Gumball however, noticed this. "Um...okay..."

 _'Should I ask this? Might as well...'_

He decided to ask and hope for the best. "Do you...have something against Penny?"

Jamie sat still for a moment, until she scoffed. "Tch, other than the fact that she's little Miss Priss and Miss Popular back here, then no, not really."

"Oh..." Gumball looked at her with a bemused expression. What he was about to say would confirm whether or not they were friends...he just hoped he'd be able to have his face intact.

 _'Well, here goes nothing.'_

"Are you...jealous of Penny?"

Jamie turned her head to Gumball, briefly having a somewhat surprised expression. She gave him a 'the fudge you talking about' look."

"Jealous? What are you, kidding me or something? Why would I be jealous of _her_?"

"Well...you kind of stated that she was popular, so...maybe because of that?" Gumball speculated.

She gave him a deadpan look, with a tone to match it. "Do you really think I'm that shallow?"

"Wha-no! I just-I don't know! Is there a reason you _kind of_ don't like her? Cause I feel like you don't." He felt pretty brave right now for talking about this topic.

She was silent for a bit, until she snorted. "Fine, you asked for it. I _don't_ _like_ her because she acts too nice to everyone, and the guys always act like she's some sort of goddess. It's annoying as hell, it makes me want to vomit. Like being nice and good-looking is ever gonna help her in life."

Gumball frowned. "Hey, don't insult her. She's just being herself," he said, a little offended.

"Yeah, well, people are gonna step on her if she keeps going down that route of being Miss Goody-Two Shoes."

"You know, she can get by. She knows judo," Gumball informed her, a little annoyed that Jamie would think that Penny was a pushover.

"Oh, well ex- _cuse_ me! Didn't know she had it in her," Jamie said irritably as she glared a hole into Gumball's paper.

Gumball blinked in perplexity. "What's your deal? She's not a bad person."

"Oh yeah, she's not a quote unquote _'bad person'_ at all," she said sardonically. "Even though she dumps you, all because of a stupid long distant relationship," she muttered disdainfully.

...Everything went silent.

Miss Welty looked up slightly from her book to watch the scene in interest.

Gumball looked at her in shock. Jamie just sat there, not taking a glance at him and was very still, not saying anything...

"So, about the poem-"

"Wait a minute, put the poem on hold for a second."

Jamie moaned exasperatedly. "Look, don't cry me a river, will ya? I'm sorry, okay?"

"Actually, what you said gave me some good insight on you," he said.

She turned her head to him with a confused expression, but her eyes looked hesitant.

"What do you mean by 'good insight'?"

Gumball smiled. "I meant that you actually _do_ care about people, don't you?"

Jamie gave him a dumbfounded look. "What?"

"I mean, during all these years at school, I think you've really had...well, started maturing. You may still be a bully, but you weren't as bad as before. And when it comes to friends- which I'm starting to think we are now- you don't want to see the other get hurt." Gumball smirked, "And I think you viewed me as a friend even when you bullied me."

Jamie stared at him with a flabbergasted look on her face. "...Damn, Gumball, when did you become a psychiatrist all of a sudden?"

Gumball shrugged with the same smirk. "I have a sister whose nine that's going to college. We have engaging conversations from time to time."

Jamie pouted in aggravation, she turned away to hide the tiny blush on her face. "Ah, what do you know?"

"Not a lot," he joked, but then thought briefly on how he acted towards her yesterday. She was only bullying him so she could help him 'forget about Penny'...

"Hey, um..."

She turned to him once more.

"...Whether or not you were actually trying to make me forget about Penny, or you were really just bullying me...thanks for doing so to make me forget about it."

Jamie stared at him oddly. "You're...thanking me for letting me harass you?"

Gumball chuckled. "I guess when you say it that way, then yeah I am."

She blinked, not knowing how to reply to that.

"Oh, and also...sorry again for insulting you yesterday," Gumball muttered diffidently.

She just looked at him weirdly. "Why do you have to be sorry about that again? We already apologized."

"Well, yeah, but-" his phone vibrated in his pocket making him pause for a bit. He kept going, "I felt like I should say it again to really let you know that I really am sorry for my jackassery. Not that I didn't mean it the first time! I just...wanted to let you know again that I really am...well, sorry," he said with a smile.

Jamie stared at him, a mix of emotions stirring within her, but one emotion came popping up...gratitude.

"Um..." She snapped out of her trance, and went back to focusing on his poem. "W-Whatever, just don't get all sappy on me. We may be friends now, but know that I call the shots, alright?"

Gumball still smiled with a roll of his eyes, "Okay, sure." He fished out his cellphone and checked the text that was on the screen; thinking it was from someone like Darwin or Anais.

...What he saw made his heart stop and his eyes widen in shock.

On his phone...was a picture of Jamie from yesterday, standing frigid with her shorts down, her pink panties being revealed to the world. The picture was solely focused on her, but on the left side of the frame, Gumball's body could be seen and and was cut off, but it didn't hide his shocked expression.

Gumball blushed at the image presented to him.

The culprit who sent it to him however, sent him a text.

 _Tobias: Hey man, just want to give you this! We know you wanna, no matter how much she beat you up ;D_

"So, you need to imagine about-" Jamie's voice pierced through his thoughts.

"No! I wasn't, I swear!" Gumball exclaimed in a panic, quickly trying to shove the phone back in his left jean pocket, but it slipped out of his grip and hit the floor.

Jamie blinked dumbly. Miss Welty, who was watching the exchange, glared at Gumball and shushed him.

Gumball briefly glared at her back. He then briskly leaned to his left, holding onto the chair to try to grab his phone with his left hand. Once he got it from underneath his chair, he got up from his seat in a rush, turning away from her to once again try to put his phone in his pocket. But he was doing so unsuccessfully, as he kept missing it while standing.

Why did Anais even suggest to buy these pair of jeans that day at the clothing store!? Because she knew what was in!? Heck, why did he even buy semi-tight (he _refused_ to call them skinny) jeans in the first place!?

"What's gotten into you?" Jamie asked in confusion. Gumball could feel her eyebrow raising.

"N-Nothing! I just...um..." He trailed off, still trying to put the damn phone in his pocket, but kept missing.

"...Why are you in such a hurry to put your phone in your pocket?" Jamie asked, her tone low in dreadful suspicion.

He finally put the phone in his pocket, and turned around to face her.

"W-What do you mean?" he said with an unconvincing grin.

Jamie stared at him, studying his expression, and his posture... "Are you hiding your phone from me for some reason?"

 _'CRAP!'_

Gumball tried to keep his cool. "What? Oh come on, why would I do that?"

The bull-lion girl stared at him skeptically. "...Okay then. Hand me your phone."

"...Huh?"

"Hand me the phone," Jamie repeated.

"W-What!? Why!? It's my phone! It's full of my private stuff that I don't want to reveal!" Gumball exclaimed.

Miss Welty shushed him.

Gumball turned to the librarian with a scowl. "Seriously!? Are you still going to keep doing that!?"

Miss Welty glared and pointed at a tag on the librarian desk that read 'PLEASE BE QUIET IN LIBRARY'.

"We're the _only_ ones here!" he groaned. He felt an arm wrap around his neck, giving him the choke-hold.

"ACK!"

Caught by surprise from this sneak attack, he tried to struggle the arm off of his neck. But the strength and force of the arm around his neck was too strong (but not strong enough to actually choke him, only to constrict his ability to move) He also felt a nice comfy pair of clothed mounds on his back...which he desperately tried not to think about.

But then he felt a hand go into his left pocket.

"WHA-HEY! WHOA, WHA-WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" Gumball exclaimed in shock.

Miss Welty didn't even shush him that time. She was quite intrigued at what was happening in front of her; her eyebrow raised peculiarly for good measure.

The perpetrator, which was Jamie, didn't answer Gumball's protests as she dug her hand in to his pocket to grab his phone. Once she did, she let go of his neck, got the phone out, and quickly push the power button on it...

...to see a text picture of her with her pants down.

Gumball coughed a bit, and turned his attention to Jamie. "HEY! Just what the crap were you trying to-" he paused as he saw her with his phone in her hand, staring at the screen. He could see the blank expression on her face, but most oddly enough, he could see that her face was a shade of red.

Either way, Gumball knew he was screwed. "Uh..." He gulped, eyes dilated in terror as he started to sweat.

Jamie stared at the picture for a few more ominous seconds...until she said, "Tobias, huh?"

Gumball blinked at the question. "Uh...y-yes?" he answered.

"...Hm. So he took the picture?" she asked Gumball.

"Um...actually, I think it was Joe. He shared it with Tobias. B-But, I had nothing to do with it! He just sent it to me! I even told them to erase it!" He quickly defended himself, hoping she would believe him.

Jamie was unnaturally silent for a few more seconds, still staring at the picture...until she growled. "Damn those stupid perverts," she glanced up at Gumball. "Here," she lightly tossed his phone back to him.

Gumball caught the phone with both of his hands, a confused look spread on his face.

"Wait, so...you're not mad at me?"

"For what? You explained that it was those idiot pervs Tobias and Joe that took the picture," Jamie said nonchalantly. "I'll just have to catch them tomorrow and teach them a lesson about respecting a girl's secrets."

"Oh..." Gumball winced. "You're not gonna...like, kill them or anything, are you?"

"Heh, tempting, but no. I'll just let them walk with limps," Jamie said with a smirk.

Gumball cringed, "Oh...ow."

Jamie chuckled...until her smirk turned into a small thoughtful frown. "Just wondering though...why would you want to hide that from me?"

Gumball's eyes widened at the question. "Uh, w-well...I just...I didn't want you to think I was...well, you know, a..." he mumbled the last part, "a perv."

Jamie looked at him oddly. "And yet you tried to hide the picture away from me?"

Realizing how that sounded, he turned defensive. "I mean, well, I just-uh, I-I-I didn't want you to think I was involved! Also, I-I didn't want you to be mad at me and misunderstand the situation! You're kind of...you know, scary when you're mad." _'And hot.'_ Gumball blinked at the added thought, he shook his head.

"So...y-yeah..."

Jamie stared at him after he finished talking, looking bemused as she studied him. She shrugged, "Eh, fair enough."

Gumball blinked in shock. "Really? Y-You're not mad at me? Um...again?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not. You seem to be honest about the whole thing. Besides, I should be directing my anger at Tobias and Joe."

"Oh..." Gumball smiled in relief. "Wow, thanks."

"Eh, don't mention it," she said, turning back to the table. "Now come on, we got a poem to finish."

"Sure thing," he agreed as they went back to their chairs. "You know, you didn't have to...well, you know, put your hand in my pocket to get my phone out."

Jamie turned her head with a sly smirk. "Ah come on, you know you liked it."

Gumball blinked and blushed a shade of red. "Wha-um..." he cleared his throat.

"S-So, about the poem..."

Jamie chuckled, and began explaining the basics of poetry.

Meanwhile, Miss Welty just looked on at the two with a smirk of her own.

* * *

"Okay, let's see what you got," Jamie said.

"Okay..." Gumball cleared his throat and read his poem.

" _I have lost something dear_

 _Something that was very near_

 _The lost was great, it made me weep_

 _But as time goes by, it made me think_

 _I could wallow, I could cry, I could mope_

 _Or I could live again, succeeding enough to give myself hope."_

Gumball looked at the poem, impressed by how it sounded. "Wow, this isn't bad." He turned to Jamie, "Do you think it would matter if the last words in the third and fourth lines don't look like they rhymed?"

"Eh, don't worry about it. Not every poem has to be a perfect rhyme. But still, not bad for a poem that's about your _dog_ ," she said with a smirk.

Gumball rolled his eyes, but smirked as well. "Heh, thanks."

"No prob," Jamie said as she stretched her arms above her head, "Welp, it seems you got your 'inner poet' out. Think you can do poems now that aren't about Penny?"

"I'll try," he answered. He sat there in thought while Jamie was putting her poem in her backpack.

"Hey, uh..."

Jamie turned her attention to him.

"I just...want to say thanks for...you know, helping me out with my poem," he said with a red hue on his face.

The bull-lion girl smirked mischievously. "Well hey, I have to do my part as your tutor, Gumbutt."

Gumball chuckled. "Yeah...you're a good tutor."

"You better damn well believe it," she said as she stood up and swung her backpack on her shoulders. "Well, see you later."

"Whoa, hey, uh..." Gumball stood up as well. "Do you want me to, um...walk you out of school?"

Jamie turned to him, a little startled that he would ask that. "Wh...why?"

Gumball shrugged sheepishly. "Well, we are kind of friends now...aren't we?"

Jamie blinked. "Well...yeah, but..." She looked at the library entrance, and back to him. "I kind of have a reputation to keep, you know?"

Gumball looked at her sadly. "Hey, you can still have friends and be tough."

She sighed, glancing at the floor. "Look, it's just...I don't want people to think I'm some pansy-ass softy, alright?"

Gumball looked at her strangely. "First of all, you're nowhere near a pansy. Secondly, since when did you start caring about what people think of you?"

Jamie glanced up at him in surprise.

Gumball continued. "Look, I know it must be hard to...you know, lose a close friend over long distances, but you can still make new friends. You just gotta open up more. Like I said, you don't have to be a bully."

She bit the bottom of her lip in apprehension. "I..." she sighed again. "Look, I just...I just built up a reputation during the years along with Tina, and people were, and still _are_ afraid of us. But now...I'm the only one left. And I don't want people to think I'm...just like everyone else."

Gumball looked at Jamie for a good moment in sympathy. "You know...feeling just like everyone else doesn't make you weak."

"Yeah, well..." she faltered there.

Just then, someone came walking into the library entrance...

It was none other than Darwin; dried off and back to wearing the same clothes from today, as well as carrying a bag in his hand that held his swimwear. He came in looking for Gumball, however once he saw his bro and Jamie standing in front of each other, he stopped and froze with his mouth hanging open in horror. Obviously misinterpreting what he was seeing, he exclaimed in terror.

"GUMBALL, NO! HANG ON BUDDY!"

Gumball and Jamie jumped at the exclamation. Miss Welty, who was startled beyond belief, fumbled with the book in her hands and turned to Darwin, glaring at him and harshly shushing at him. But the fish boy didn't pay too much attention to the librarian as he sprint forward to where they were. He went as far as jumping on the table they once occupied and leaping in between them to try and prevent whatever he thought was gonna happen.

"Whoa, Darwin!" Gumball exclaimed as Darwin was now in front of him. "Dude, what are you-"

"Stay back, you witch!" Darwin exclaimed, holding up his swimwear bag in front of Jamie to ward her off.

Jamie just looked at him like he grew a second head. "What's your problem?"

"You just can't stop messing with Gumball, can you!?" Darwin shouted, feeling brave to stand up to Jamie. "Here he is, day in and out trying to live his life through a breakup, and you're just making it worse for him!"

"Darwin, wait-" Gumball tried to intervene.

"And you're saying what's MY problem!? What is your problem!? Don't you have any other people to bully!? Why my bro!?" Darwin exclaimed in anger.

"Hey, look-" Jamie tried to explain.

"No, you look! How would you like it if you got dumped by someone you loved!? Granted, it was back at sophomore year, and he could have moved on-"

"Hey!" Gumball remarked defensively.

"But that's no reason to keep picking on him because of it! How would you like it, huh!? Of course like you would know, you force relationships on people! Like me for instance back at junior high! Seriously, how would someone ever like you from the way you act!? I dread to think who the so called 'lucky' guy would be that you actually like!"

"Hey!" Jamie exclaimed in offense.

"Darwin, whoa, timeout-"

"But this isn't about your love life, it's about you not leaving my bro alone! He suffered enough already and you just keep coming back to torture him! So what is _your_ deal!?"

"Darwin seriously, chill-"

"Chill!? Chill!? You're gonna let her get away with this!? She's been doing this for too long! She needs to know now that enough is enough! You got to stand up for yourself, man! Tell her like it is! Don't let her dictate you! You gotta-"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

...All three of the teens turned to Miss Welty in shock.

The librarian just glared at them. "Seriously, I ask one thing, and no one does it," she grumbled as she returned to her book.

All three of them still stood there, the shock waning. Jamie shook her head and muttered, "Thank you," she then looked at Darwin with an irritated look. "Did it ever occur to you that I was actually Gumball's English tutor?"

Darwin, snapping out of it, looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Uh, yeah, Darwin, Jamie's...my tutor," Gumball explained awkwardly.

Darwin turned to Gumball. "Really!?"

"Yeah, _really_ ," Jamie said, annoyed. "And for your information, Gumball and I have reached an understanding."

Darwin turned back to Jamie oddly. "Huh? You did?"

Even Gumball looked at her with wide eyes as he blinked. _'What the? What is she doing?'_

"Yeah. Besides, he was the one who punched himself, not me," Jamie confirmed.

"What!?" Darwin exclaimed at this bombshell of information. Gumball's eyes widened even further in surprise.

"Why do I even bother," Miss Welty sighed into her book.

" _Yeah._ In fact, now that I revealed that bit of info, Gumball will fill you in the rest." Jamie then glared at Darwin, "And when he tells you, you _better_ keep quiet about it if you yourself know what's good for you. _Got it_?"

Darwin's confidence faded, his face blanching at the threat. "U-Uh..."

Jamie snorted. She turned her attention to Gumball, "I'll trust you on explaining it to Darwin here, but he better not say a word."

"Um...o-okay..." He stuttered in a stunned daze.

"Good. Well, see you around, Gumbutt." She nodded and walked off with her backpack on, making her way out of the library.

Gumball watched her go, astonished at what Jamie just did...

"Gumball?" Darwin's voice broke him out his thoughts and he glanced back at his bro, who was baffled beyond belief. "What did she mean by you punched yourself in the face?"

Gumball stood there for a moment, contemplating what to say... "Would you like to sit down for a moment, Dar?"

Miss Welty sighed again and muttered into her book. "I'm never gonna get this read..."

* * *

 **There you go! Chapter 4! How was it? :D And once again, thanks to "Heart of Writing" for being my beta! You rock, girl! ^_^**

 **As for the story, I think I got a good outline of what I'm gonna do with this. So be hyped, folks! XD**

 **Well, as per-usual, if you like it, give me a follow, a fave, or heck, even a review! I really do appreciate those! :D**

 **Anyways, I hope you all keep reading, and everyone keeps on rocking! 8D**

 **See y'all later! ;D**

 **-TSP**


	5. A 'Small' Crush

****[EDIT: 9/28/2017]****

 ** **Just a heads up, I'm kind of making Tina the same age as Jamie. I don't know if that matters or not, but I just thought I mention that just so the story would stay consistent. XP****

* * *

Jamie exited out of the school grounds and began walking to the school parking lot where her motorcycle was parked. It was given to her by her uncle(her mom's brother) on her sixteenth birthday, the bike belonging to him. It was one of the classics, a Charley-Gavison Dyna Low Rider, and even though it was a little beaten up, she loved it. It sputters and bangs a little bit when it runs, but she adores the charm of it.

Once she reached her bike, she put on her helmet that she got out from her locker, strapped it on her head, and got on the bike, turning the engine on. It sputtered and banged to life, and when she revved the engine, Jamie smirked.

 _ _'Still runs like a dream.'__

When she backed the bike up and drove out of the parking lot, she took her route back home.

As she drove her bike, however, she briefly thought back at what happened at the library...

 _ _'I wonder if that was a good idea to reveal that info to Darwin...'__ she shrugged, __'Eh, what's done is done. I won't break my promise though if he decides to blab it out to the student body...however, I doubt he'll say anything. I did pretty much scare him into changing his mind.'__ she then smirked, __'Heh, I still got it.'__

As she made a turn to a street, another thought came to her, one about Gumball...about what he said on not being a bully...

" _ _You know...feeling just like everyone else doesn't make you weak."__

Her eyes still looking at the road, she frowned solemnly.

 _ _'It's not the same, Gumbutt...'__

She actually did want to make more friends, but how can she? Jamie already built this image along with Tina, and she wants to keep going with it...in her name...

It was the only thing that makes her feel like she still has her friend right beside her...

They always talk on their phones at times, whenever it was convenient, mostly on Saturday and little on Sunday. Tina was actually working in her dad's new garage job, which makes her want a degree in mechanical engineering. So believe it or not, she's working really hard to try to get her grades up, even going as far as having a student tutor try to get her up to speed on her studies. Jamie was of course very supportive of Tina, telling her to 'shoot for your dreams'.

Before Tina left to Los Angeles however, Jamie told her that she'll be holding down the fort at their high school while she was gone, keeping up with the tough front and continuing their 'legacy'. However, Tina said something surprising to her concerning that topic.

" _ _Jamie, look, I appreciate you continuing our 'legacy' back at my old school, but really, I mean it, you don't have to keep doing that. Sure, you don't have your mom breathing down your neck like at our old junior high school, but seriously, you have a future to think of. You don't have to keep up with this tough act forever. You come this far in school, and I hate to see you waste it by just acting like how we used to be. You do want to become a writer, right?"__

Jamie remembered that conversation well. That was when she told Tina she was thinking of sharing her poems with other people, and how she dreams to be an aspiring writer. Tina told her to go for it and that she believes in her, which made Jamie feel very grateful that her friend thinks she can do it. Her parents also support her as well.

Speaking of her parents, her relationship with her mother is not as strained as it used to be. Long story short, she and her mom reached an understanding when she was fourteen, and it was really thanks to Jamie's father, who told her mother to reconnect with her daughter again.

Jamie felt a little helpless at times ever since her mother, Melissa Russo, was monitoring her back at her old junior high school. She wanted to beat the kids up who made fun of her, which really, the only reason why she ever bullied the kids at her old junior high school in the first place was because they made fun of her for her boyish looking appearance and her unnaturally boyish voice. It was actually like that with Tina as well. One day though, when she had a moment of weakness back when she was fourteen, it was her mother who comforted her about it.

She remembered it very well...

* * *

 _ _In the empty girl's gym locker room in junior high, Jamie sat on a metal bench with her knees up to her chest, her arms on top of them as she buried her face into her arms and knees. She was wearing the gym uniform, the red gym shorts, and the white gym shirt, along with her black boots.__

 _ _She also looked to be shedding tears.__

 _ _She hated to look weak; crying was a sign of weakness. So she hid while classes were almost starting...__

 _ _She didn't care if she was going to fail any classes by being tardy. She didn't even care if Miss Simian will get onto her. She just wants to be alone...she can't let anyone see her crying, not even Tina.__

 _ _Jamie sniffled and mumbled, "I hate them..."__

 _ _Ever since her mom decided to be at the school more often to watch over Jamie, the kids at school thought it was pure justice for all the times she bullied them. So much, that they decided to test out her helplessness. They didn't physically bully her(no one would dare do that), but they verbally harass her by calling Jamie a__ boy _ _, and proceeding to make more harsh insults.__

" _ ** _ **Hey, look! It's**_**_ ** **James**** ** _ _ **!"**__**

" _ ** _ **Look at James, trying to act like a girl!"**_**_

" _ ** _ **James is**_**_ ** **such**** ** _ _ **a mama's**__** ** **boy!"****

 _ _Those kinds of insults made her feel really insecure about herself. Really, the only reason she and Tina ever bullied the kids was because back when they were six, they were picked on for being too boyish looking. It was then Jamie and Tina met one day when they were at playtime in kindergarten, and shared their discomfort on how the kids made fun of them. That was when they formed their two-person 'pack', and started to bully the rest of the kids. They've been friends ever since.__

 _ _Now in the last year of junior high, Jamie was getting all the unwanted insults thrown at her, and there's nothing she can do about it because her mother was now in school looking after her. Thankfully, Tina's got her back, always intimating and threatening anyone who would dare call them boys. But still, it made Jamie feel helpless.__

 _ _The only time she ever felt like a girl was when she was younger, at the age of four. She was the flower girl at her aunt's, her father's sister, wedding.__

 _ _After that, she didn't really want to associate with anything frilly. She wanted to play in the mud and be involved in sports, but she still knew that she was a girl...until all the kids made fun of her, making her feel like she wasn't one.__

 _ _It hurt her confidence so bad. And she couldn't do anything because her mother was always watching...__

 _ _Speaking of her mother...__

" _ _Jamie?" said a gruff female's voice echoing in the gym's locker rooms.__

" _ _Oh great..." Jamie muttered. She just wants to be alone, not be scolded by her strict mom once more.__

" _ _Jamie...?" Jamie heard her footsteps in the quiet gym locker room. Her tone was now of...concern.__

 _ _Jamie silently scoffed,__ _ ** _ **'When was she ever that concerned?'**_**_

" _ _Jamie."__

 _ _The footsteps stopped and Jamie turned her head to the right to see that it was her mother, Coach Melissa Russo.__

 _ _She was still wearing the baggy gray coach attire, her sweatshirt hoodie and her sweatpants along with her white tennis shoes. Coach Russo was still a towering woman of 5'11" with blue short hair and a strong feminine build, her physique something you see on 'American Gladiator'. Her blocky face, which was once a face of sternness, was now replaced with a frown...a frown of concern.__

" _ _Jamie, what are you doing sitting here? Classes are about to start." Coach Russo asked softly, but still having the gruff edge to it.__

 _ _Jamie sniffled, "I don't care. I'm just gonna fail anyway because of stupid Miss Simian."__

 _ _Coach Russo looked at her daughter, her eyes growing softer, "Jamie...have you been crying?"__

" _ _No!" Jamie exclaimed, trying to hide her face in her arms and knees, but doing a pitiful job, as she was shuddering from crying.__

 _ _Coach Russo's frown deepened, a sad look on her features. She asked gently, "Jamie...what's wrong?"__

 _ _Her mother's tone sounded so soothing...she remembered her mother humming a lullaby when she was younger with that tone...that was back when things were simpler for her.__

 _ _Jamie, however, just sat there, trying hard not to sob.__

 _ _Coach Russo sighed softly and went over to where her daughter was. She sat next to her and stayed silent for a moment, until she said, "Jamie...I know I usually tell you to suck up any type of pain, let it be scratches or bruises. You're a strong girl, and I know you can tough anything out. But...I'm guessing right now you're in a different kind of pain."__

 _ _Jamie just sat there for a couple of seconds...until she lifted her head up from her arms. She was staring straight, her eyes all red from crying. She sniffled, wiping her nose on her arm.__

 _ _Coach Russo continued, "You know, your father wanted me to try to connect with you again. I think now is a good time to do just that..." she put her arm around her daughter's frame, pulling her close, "Please tell me what's wrong, Jamie." she said in a gentle manner.__

 _ _It was then Jamie turned her head to her mother and looked at her, her eyes looking hopeful.__

 _ _Coach Russo gave her a nod, indicating that she could tell her, and gave her a reassuring squeeze.__

 _ _Jamie's expression looked pensive and turned her head to rest her chin on her arms. "Mommy...am...am I pretty?"__

 _ _Coach Russo frowned on hearing that. "Who said you weren't?"__

 _ _Jamie sniffled, "Everyone in school."__

 _ _Coach Russo's frown deepened, "Well, they don't know what they're talking about."__

" _ _Yes they do, Mommy. They said I look like a boy."__

" _ _Jamie, are you serious? Last time I checked, you were a girl." Coach Russo said in humor.__

" _ _...They don't make me feel like one. Especially back when I was younger."__

" _ _When you were younger? How long has this been going on?" Coach Russo asked, surprised by this information.__

" _ _...When I entered kindergarten."__

 _ _Coach Russo looked at her daughter in shock, not having any idea of this happening. "Jamie, why didn't you tell your father and I about this?"__

" _ _...I don't know. I guess I was just really young at the time..." Jamie continued, "But they made fun of Tina and me on how we looked. We didn't like how they treated us, so...well, we taught them a lesson..."__

 _ _Coach Russo gave her daughter another frown, "So you've been bullying ever since you were in kindergarten?"__

 _ _Jamie winced, feeling like her mother was about to go off on her again.__

 _ _However, her mother surprised her when all she did was sigh solemnly and said, "Jamie, I can understand why you're mad, but that's not how you deal with your problems."__

 _ _Jamie turned her head to her mother and looked at her in confusion.__

" _ _You could've told us about this." Coach Russo said sincerely.__

 _ _The bull-lion girl then lowered her head to stare down at the floor. "I guess...I thought you guys lied to me about me being pretty."__

 _ _Coach Russo expression turned melancholy, "Jamie, look at me."__

 _ _She did, raising her head back up to look at her mother.__

" _ _Your father would absolutely never,__ ever __lie to you on how you look. And that goes for me too; I would__ never __lie to you like that. Remember your aunt Jodine's wedding where you were the flower girl?"__

 _ _Jamie nodded as she sniffled.__

" _ _Our relatives, including your aunt and your uncle's relatives, thought you were the cutest, prettiest little flower girl they've ever seen. And that, young lady, is__ not __a lie."__

 _ _The fourteen-year-old girl was silent, almost as if she's letting it sink in.__

" _ _Also, you need to look at yourself in the mirror, little lady. Or better yet, these__ kids __need to adjust their eyes when looking at you. You're growing up to be a very beautiful young woman."__

 _ _Jamie looked at her mother curiously, "I am?"__

" _ _Of course you are! Puberty is being very good to you!" Coach Russo said with a knowing smirk.__

 _ _Blushing at the compliment, Jamie looked down at her chest, which had two small mounds on them. She also noticed that her hips were getting a little wider.__

" _ _You know, we're going bra shopping after school." Coach Russo teased her.__

"Mom! _ _" Jamie said, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden, blushing and covering her clothed chest with her hands.__

 _ _Melissa chuckled. She still had her arm around Jamie and patted her arm. "I mean it though. You're a very beautiful girl. Don't listen to what the other kids say. And really, I honestly think some girls are just jealous of how attractive you're becoming, Jamie."__

 _ _Jamie smirked at that, but then it dropped when she muttered, "The only reason I'm not pummeling them right now is because you're watching over me."__

 _ _Coach Russo took a breath, "Well Jamie, I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. I can understand now why you're mad at your classmates, but that doesn't excuse your bullying. And if they still try to make fun of you, then tough it out and remember what I said."__

 _ _Jamie sat there in silence, taking what her mother said into account.__

 _ _Coach Russo gave her another squeeze, "You know I'm only doing this because I love you, right?"__

 _ _Jamie sat there for a couple of more seconds, until she answered, "Yeah...I know."__

 _ _Her mother nodded, "I know you know I'm not the mushy type when it comes to these things, Jamie, but...just know that your father and I__ do __love you. And we just want to make you happy." she said with a small smile.__

 _ _Jamie sat there for a few more seconds, sniffled, and looked at her mother with appreciative eyes...a sincere smile then formed on her lips, "Thanks, Mommy."__

 _ _Coach Russo's small smile turned warm. "You're welcome. And give your father a hug when we get home. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be having this talk."__

 _ _Jamie nodded, smile still on her face and feeling uplifted, her confidence soaring.__

* * *

After that bonding moment between her and her mother, their relationship turned rather pleasant. Her mother was more patient with her, and she listens to what Jamie has to say about the hardships of school. Coach Russo also told her daughter about the 'birds and the bees', since Jamie was going through puberty quite fast, maturing not only physically but mentally. Speaking of school, she graduated junior high(as well as Tina, since she wanted to catch up to her best bud), and has been doing quite well with her studies in high school, especially social studies and English. Science and Math were still a tough subject for her, but she did well enough to keep going in her junior year in high school.

Coach Russo may not be able to watch over daughter in high school, but she did tell her to lay off on certain people, and surprisingly enough, Jamie did just that. She, as well as Tina, mellowed out and were more responsible during the course of her high school life...although, she and Tina __do__ try to keep up the tough act for quite a time...

Actually, when Jamie thinks about it, she hasn't really been bullying many people lately. It was just mostly at Gumball...

 _ _'It's not my fault that he's cute in that dorky way...'__

Jamie doesn't really know __why__ she has a small crush on that dork. She __did__ start to respect him after he apologized to her for letting her mom monitor her in her old junior high school.

...Actually, if Gumball hadn't let Jamie's mom know about her bullying, she wouldn't be able to reconnect with her mother. Maybe that was how her small crush was formed...

 _ _'Huh...never thought of it that way...kind of ironic.'__

Either way, in due time, she started to actually secretly like him...

Honestly, it was quite a foreign feeling to her; she never felt this type of emotion before. It wasn't like the time she forced someone like Darwin to be her boyfriend. This feeling of liking someone like Gumball felt...natural. And that feeling kind of grew over time.

And ever since Jamie was reassured by her mother, her mom and dad taught her how to approach a boy that she likes...which really didn't help much, cause obviously, the boy that she likes was already in a relationship.

It was silly, really. She knew she didn't stand a chance, what with Penny being the quote-unquote "hottest girl" in the school and all. Tina, on the other hand, when Jamie told her she has a thing for Gumball, thinks she does have a chance. Speaking of Tina, when Jamie told her about maybe having a crush on Gumball in their sophomore year while at the T-Rex human hybrid's house, her reply was actually quite shocking:

" _ _No way! You too!?"__

When Jamie asked what she meant by that, Tina explained that she somewhat had a crush on the blue cat boy at one time. When wondering why she didn't pursue him, she simply stated that he was with Penny. She actually knew the feeling, but when she gave her her empathy, Tina actually acted mature about it, saying what's done is done.

She also remembered the whole conversation she had with her about Gumball during her house visit.

* * *

" _ _So, you like Gumball, eh?" Tina glanced up from her homework with a smirk as she asks.__

 _ _They're working on their homework as of now in the Rex's dining room, having an opened bag of chips each on the table as they study. Jamie told Tina about her little crush on Gumball, which leads to her dinosaur friend confessing that she had a crush on him one time as well. After talking and being empathetic towards each other on that subject, Tina then asks the question she just asked now.__

" _ _Um...yeah..." Jamie mutters, looking at the homework sheet she's writing.__

" _ _Hey, come on, don't feel shy about it-"__

" _ _I ain't being shy."__

" _ _Whatever. Look, don't feel like you lost hope and whatnot on Gumball just cause Penny is his main squeeze. I still think you do have a chance."__

 _ _Jamie looks up with a raised eyebrow, "What makes you say that? And what makes you think I actually do__ like __him that way?"__

" _ _Eh, I don't know. You haven't been bugging him lately."__

" _ _It could be because he's in a relationship with Little Miss Perfect."__

" _ _Oh, that's bull, Jamie. You would've picked on him any day of the week. You like him, even if it's a quote-unquote 'small' crush."__

" _ _...Damn it, Tina, you read me like a book."__

 _ _Tina chuckles. "Hey, speaking of books, maybe you can share some of your ideas with him, along with that poetry stuff that you've been doing lately. I bet he would like some of those poems."__

" _ _Tch, I wouldn't be surprised. He is kind of a sissy."__

 _ _They both chuckled at that.__

" _ _...But seriously, Tina, he's with__ Penny _ _...and it's not like I can waltz up to him and say, 'Hey, want to hear about my poetry?' or share anything else with him. I got a reputation to keep."__

 _ _Tina sighs, "Jamie...I think it's time you hang up the tough gal act."__

 _ _Jamie looks at her oddly, "...What?"__

" _ _I mean, come on girl, we're in high school now. That type of stuff we can get a pass in junior high, but we're sixteen now in high school and sophomores! We earned our way up pretty well to be here! Besides, you don't want people to be talking about us."__

" _ _Talking about us? Like what?"__

" _ _Well, for one thing, some of the kids think we're gay."__

" _ _WHAT!?" Jamie exclaimed.__

" _ _Don't worry, I set them straight."__

" _ _...Still..."__

" _ _Well, that's what I'm talking about. And to be perfectly honest, I found my peace after all of this."__

" _ _Wait...you have?"__

" _ _Yeah. Let tell you something Jamie, we grew up__ pretty __well for our ages."__

" _ _What do you mean?"__

" _ _Seriously? Jamie, look down at your chest and tell me what you see."__

" _ _TINA!"__

" _ _Exactly. In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're__ hot __now, Jamie."__

" _ _...I don't feel hot. I just feel the same."__

" _ _Well, so do I, and look at me now! I see myself in the mirror, and I like what I see."__

" _ _...Well...I wish I have your confidence."__

 _ _Tina sighs, "Jamie, trust me on this; you, are__ hot _ _. If I was a guy, I would totally try to get with you."__

" _ _...Uh...thanks."__

" _ _Hey, would it made you feel any better if I said I would bone you?"__

" _ _Oh gosh, Tina,__ stop _ _!"__

 _ _Tina laughed, "Sorry, that was a little too much. But seriously, don't doubt yourself. Look at yourself in the mirror every once in a while and you'll see what I mean. I mean, your mom said you were pretty. What, you don't believe her or something? What about your dad? I bet he calls you pretty every chance he gets, knowing his goofy personality."__

" _ _...Well...yeah, they do, but...I don't know, I just..."__

" _ _You know...I bet Gumball finds you attractive."__

" _ _Pfft, yeah, like every other boy I pummel into oblivion back then."__

" _ _Hey, some guys like girls who can be the dominating type."__

" _ _Okay Tina,__ please _ _, don't go into freaky fetish territory here."__

 _ _Tina laughs again. "What are you all so embarrassed about? You__ were __pretty much the dominating type around guys back then when we were younger. Remember Darwin?"__

" _ _Ugh, don't remind me. I want to leave that behind me."__

 _ _Tina chuckles, "Well, either way, you've haven't done that recently. What changed? It couldn't be Gumball, could it?"__

" _ _..." she grabbed a handful of her chips and stuffed them into her mouth.__

 _ _The dinosaur girl just kept chuckling as she shook her head, "Well, it's a good thing you have your parents to talk to you about boys. My Pops didn't want any boys to go near me...which is pretty annoying, but I convinced him I could take care of myself."__

 _ _Jamie smirked at that. "Yeah...I have my parents to thank for that. Anyways, back to the topic at hand, aren't we forgetting that Penny is the apple of Gumball's eye? I bet he thinks about her all the time. It's not like he takes a look at other girls."__

" _ _...Let me tell you something interesting, Jamie." Tina says with a knowing smirk.__

 _ _Jamie looked at her oddly, "...Okay..."__

" _ _I think little Gumball, although he really does like Penny...is also noticing the girls around him growing as well."__

" _ _...What do you mean?"__

 _ _Tina gave her a deadpan look. "Jamie. Work with me here. You know Teri?"__

" _ _Yeah. What about her?"__

" _ _Do you see that little shy and clumsy Teri is packing a chest?"__

" _ _Well...I guess, yeah."__

" _ _Do you also see Carrie's got a nice looking butt?"__

 _ _Jamie blinks, "...Uh..."__

" _ _Do you__ also __see that Carmen is having some sexy curves on her?"__

" _ _Tina, what's the point in this?"__

" _ _The point is, Gumball's been checking them out."__

" _ _...What? Nah, come on, he's too oblivious and devoted to Penny. He wouldn't dare look at anyone but her."__

 _ _Tina chuckles at her friend, "Man, you have a lot to learn, Jamie. Just cause Gumball has a girlfriend, doesn't mean he hadn't checked out any of the girls at our school once in a while."__

" _ _...He...he really has?"__

" _ _Hell yeah. I notice this since his locker is several feet from mine. For example, back in freshman year, when Penny was absent around Gumball at the time, Carrie came by to his locker and invited him to that Halloween party she threw last year. After they talked a little bit and bid each other farewell, he stood there looking at Carrie from behind a little TOO long...and ghosts tend to mature faster from what I heard."__

" _ _...Really? I-I mean...did Gumball really...checked Carrie out?"__

" _ _Hey, I was there. I__ saw __him standing there for who knows how long. Just cause he's in a relationship, doesn't mean he's like any other full-blooded hormonal stressed male that like girls."__

" _ _...Okay, so he stares at the girls in school. What does that have to do with me?"__

" _ _Weeelll...me thinks that Gumball was checking__ you __out."__

" _ _What? Pfft, no way."__

" _ _Alright then. Remember yesterday when you were coming to my locker to show me that A+ on your English exam?"__

" _ _Um...yeah. That was a pretty proud moment for me to get that A+."__

" _ _Heh, well, while you were bouncing up and down in excitement-"__

" _ _No I wasn't."__

" _ _You kind of were."__

" _ _..."__

"Anyways, __while you were all excited, I glanced at Gumball for a bit and noticed that he was looking down..."__

" _ _...At what?"__

" _ _Well, what do you think?"__

" _ _...At the floor?"__

" _ _...Jamie, he was staring at your ass."__

" _ _...Huh?"__

" _ _Jamie, are you telling me that you haven't noticed when you walk around in those denim shorts of yours, that they emphasize your butt real nicely?"__

" _ _W-What!?"__

" _ _Yeah. In fact, why do you wear denim shorts in the spring, summer, and even early fall? They can't be__ that __comfortable can they?"__

" _ _W-Wha-"__

" _ _I mean, I get you're__ kind of __thick in the legs, but still."__

" _ _Hey!"__

 _ _"Thankfully, you wear jeans when it's winter. Don't want you and those good looking legs of yours to get cold."__

 _ _"T-Tina, please-"__

 _ _"And hey__ , __I bet if you turned around in front of Gumball jumping up and down, he would be staring at those-"__

 _ _"TINA, STOP!"__

" _ _..."__

" _ _..."__

" _ _...You're blushing."__

" _ _No duh, Tina..." she mumbles.__

" _ _...I think you get my picture though."__

" _ _...What made you think he was staring at me?"__

" _ _I saw his eye contact. Once you were distracted by your grade, I looked at Gumball, which he caught me looking at him. Heh, the dork was so scared and bashful about it, he pretended he was looking for a textbook in his locker or something."__

" _ _...Well so, he was looking at my butt...that doesn't mean he was interested in me."__

" _ _But it means you're__ __attractive."__

" _ _...What?"__

" _ _Jamie, why would you think Gumball even looked your way? Cause he thinks you're a nice looking gal."__

" _ _...I..."__

" _ _Girl, believe me when I say this; you, are, pretty. And I really do think you still have some form of chance with him."__

" _ _...You really think so?"__

" _ _Yeah. We're teenagers, not adults yet...technically. Anyways, you got a lot of time. And just because he's with Penny doesn't mean you can't at least confess to him."__

" _ _No. No way. I ain't doing that."__

 _ _Tina sighs, "Well, you need to get this off your chest or else you'll be bitter about this for the rest of your life."__

" _ _...I...I don't know..."__

" _ _Jamie...just try to at least do this for me, okay? It doesn't have to be now, it doesn't even have to be tomorrow or the next day after that. But promise me you will sometime in the future try to tell him how you feel."__

" _ _...Okay..."__

 _ _Tina grinned and nodded, "Good. So just to review, you're pretty, and I believe you do have a chance with Gumball."__

 _ _Jamie chuckled, "...Thanks, Tina. You really are a good friend."__

" _ _No prob, Jamie. Now let's get back to this boring homework. Maybe after this, we'll play a little bit of 'Fighting the Fighters V'."__

" _ _You're on," Jamie said with a smirk.__

* * *

A week later, that was when Tina was told from her father that they were moving to Los Angeles.

It was a sudden decision. Mr. Rex thought about moving there because his father passed away, leaving his car garage behind. Since Mr. Rex crew up in Los Angeles, he decided to own it in his father's memory. Tina didn't really like the impulsive decision, but her father didn't took no for an answer.

And so started the most agonizing wait in Jamie's life; waiting for her friend to move far away from Elmore.

It didn't feel fair to Jamie. Now who will be her friend? She can't just suddenly be friends with the kids that she once bullied...

Either way, it was a tearful farewell between friends. Of course, they'll still communicate through phones...but it doesn't make Jamie feel any less alone when she's at school.

But then something amazing happened during the end of her sophomore year...

Penny was moving to Mexico...and Gumball and Penny just broke up.

She couldn't believe her ears. Was this a sign? Did Tina somehow predict this or something? Does this mean she actually has a chance?

All she knows is that Gumball will be basically depressed from the breakup, so she can't just go in and try to make advances...actually, she doesn't think she could either way, mainly because it's not her, and he's trying to recover from it. Besides, no matter what her parents' advised her to do when approaching a boy she likes, she really is afraid that she'll mess it up. She's not very girly, and even though she's slowly gaining self-confidence in herself at how she looks, she'll still feel like that outcast kid in kindergarten that everyone made fun of...

So she did the only thing that she could do to grab Gumball's attention...she bullied him.

She kind of felt like a coward doing so, but she didn't know what to do. Bullying was the only thing that she could think of to show affection towards Gumball. Although, she wasn't too rough on him; she just gave him the occasional push, wedgie, kick in the butt...she knew it was childish, but she felt pressured on actually needing to __confess__ to the guy...

Tina would __not__ be happy with what she's doing right now, to be honest...

But as of right now, things seem to be looking up a bit. Jamie and Gumball reached an agreement, and are sort of friends, so that's saying something, right? She seems to be going on the right path...

 _ _'I just need to not be so obvious...I still feel like I need a reputation to keep...'__

...She really does wish Tina was here to help her out with her confidence...

Jamie was almost to her front yard. She sees her mom's car parked in the driveway, so she turned her motorcycle up the drive and parked the bike up into the garage.

Kicking the stand, she turned the engine off and took off her helmet. Carrying her helmet along with the backpack strapped on her back, she made her way to her house.

Once she got the key from under the welcome mat(a generic place to keep a key to the house, but so far no one has found it), she unlocked the door and entered the house.

Her house was an old craftsman bungalow style home, which was a modestly sized place. Jamie entered the den area to see her mother reading the newspaper on her recliner next to the right side of the couch, which was up against the walled-in staircase to the right side of the house. She still works as the coach in Elmore Junior High, always calling out and shouting to the kids with her fog-horn voice.

Melissa looked up from her paper, seeing Jamie coming in, "Hey Jamie."

"Hey, Mom," Jamie said as she put her backpack and helmet on the couch and sat on it, leaning against the back of it as she relaxes.

"How was school?" Coach Russo asked simply.

"Eh, you know, same old same old."

"Hmm. So, how was the tutoring?"

"Went pretty well. He got his inner poet out."

"Well, that's good. Anything else interesting happened to you during the day?"

"Nah. Just same old boring stuff."

"Hmm..." Coach shrugged, "Okay. Your father texted me about ten minutes ago saying that he'll be coming home real soon."

"Okay. Cool."

Coach nodded and went back to reading her paper...until she lowered it again and asked, "Who was the student you were tutoring?"

Jamie was quiet for a couple of seconds... "Eh, Gumball."

Coach smirked at her, "Gumball, eh? That little squirt and his brother were a handful...not the most athletic."

Jamie smirked, "Heh, yeah. His poem was about his ex-girlfriend, but tried to disguise it as his dog that he gave away."

Coach chuckled, "Yeesh, talk about sad."

Jamie shrugged, "Ah, he still did alright...had to congratulate him on trying to go through with it...he actually did really well on the poem. Who knows, maybe Mr. Douglas will let me help him again with anything English related. He's got some potential, he just needs to believe he can do it."

Melissa then gave her daughter a knowing smirk, "Hmm...you're giving him some praise."

"Well, yeah, I am his tutor. I have to give him __some__ praise."

"Still, you rarely do that, especially if it's a boy...you wouldn't happen to have a thing for him, would you?" Coach grinned.

Jamie froze, "...Why would you say that?"

Coach shrugged, "Mother's intuition."

"...Mom, I don't like him that way."

"Oh, but you __do__ like him either way, then?"

...Jamie sighed, "Mom, I just came back from tutoring. I just want to relax."

Coach rolled her eyes, "Alright, whatever you say. Just know you can talk to me anytime about this type of stuff. I'm not gonna embarrass you like your father if you __do__ like Gumball in that way. Although, I will question your taste in boys."

Jamie turned to her mother, "What's wrong with Gumball?"

Coach Russo smirked in a way that says 'gotcha'. "What do you like about him?"

Jamie was about to open her mouth to speak until she stopped. Realizing she's been duped, she blinked while closing her mouth. She then pouted in annoyance at her mother, "...That was sneaky."

Melissa chuckled, "So, Gumball, eh?"

"I never said that I liked him that way, Mom."

"Still, I think he's a nice kid. Pretty responsible, too. He's not that bad looking either."

Taken aback on the last part, Jamie grimaced, "Ugh! Mom!"

Coach chortled. It was then the front door opened to reveal a petite little garden gnome of a creature of 5'6", his teal cone hat on his head, wearing black suspenders, a white shirt, a brown jacket, and black polished shoes. He also has a rainbow looking button on his shirt.

He came into the home and turned to his family with a big smile, "Hello, family!" Mr. Jeffery Russo exclaimed happily.

"Hey Dear." Melissa greeted her husband with a smirk.

"Hey, Dad." Jamie greeted her father as well with a small smile.

"How was work today?" Melissa asked him.

"Oh, it was great! Working in the Rainbow Factory now really is quite rewarding!" Jeffery said as he closed the front door and hung his jacket on the miniature coat rack next to the door.

Jamie's father has been working in the Rainbow Factory for about a month now ever since the company he worked for closed down. She guesses the Color Factory couldn't beat the colors of the rainbow. However, Jeffery kept an optimistic attitude and decided to apply for a job at the Rainbow Factory, which he was hired instantly for his chipper and go-to-work attitude. Her father really was a hard worker, and that's what Jamie always admired about him.

"What do you do there again?" Jamie asked in curiosity.

"Well, I help make rainbows shine forth onto the town!" Jeffery chuckled, "It's really quite amazing how technology does these things nowadays!" he went over to the other recliner that was next to the couch's left in the den and sat on it. "So, how are my girls today?"

"Doing alright." said Jamie simply.

"My day was alright as well. The kids at junior high were doing their best to get in shape today. Makes me happy to know that I'm doing my job." Melissa says.

"Well, that's wonderful to hear!" Jeffery said with a smile. He turned to his daughter, "I heard from your mother that you were tutoring someone after school. Who was the lucky student to be taught by my beautiful and intelligent daughter?"

Jamie blushed, "Dad..." she muttered. Before she was going to answer, however, Melissa beat her to it.

"She was tutoring Gumball."

"Mom!" she said in frustration.

"Gumball? Hmm...is he that really blue cat boy who's brothers with that fish boy with legs and arms that was your boyfriend at one time?" Jeffery asks.

"Yep. That's the one." Melissa answered for her daughter.

"Mommy, I can answer for myself," Jamie mutters.

"Oh! I think his mother works there at the Rainbow Factory as well! His last name is Watterson, right?" Jeffery asks.

Jamie turned to her dad, eyes expressing surprise, "Um, yeah, his last name is Watterson."

"Oh, well, in that case, I __did__ speak to his mother! Nicole Watterson was her name!"

Melissa smirked, "Really? Well, I hope you're not flirting with her behind my back, Dear."

Jeffery laughed, "Hahaha! Oh Honey, you know I would never do that! You're the apple of my eye!"

"Darn straight I am."

Jeffery chuckled, while Jamie smirked at their banter. They may be total opposites personality-wise, but they really do love each other.

"Anyways, she was telling me one day that her son had some sort of breakup that happened almost a year ago?" he said in Jamie's direction.

 _ _"Almost__ a year ago? Sheesh, he needs to move on." Melissa said with her eyes rolling.

"That's what I said. And yeah Dad, he was caught up on this girl who used to go to our school. Her name was Penny Fitzgerald." Jamie said to her father.

"Oh! So she's Patrick Fitzgerald's daughter! Yeah, I read that he moved for a better real estate job opportunity in Mexico!"

"Yep. And I was helping him on his poem that he said was about his dog whom he gave away, but in reality, it was about his ex-girlfriend, who of course was Penny." Jamie explained.

"Hmm..." Jeffery nodded with a frown, "Well, it still must hit him pretty hard if he's actually writing a poem about her."

"Yeah..." Jamie said, sounding almost forlorn. She leaned against the back of the couch and placed her arms around the top part of it, "He's getting better at moving on though..."

"Could it be because he might be taking an interest in you now?" Melissa teased her daughter.

Jeffery mouth formed into an 'o', "Say what now?"

"Mom!" Jamie's arms let go of the top of the couch, and gave her a 'Really?' look while hands were out in a 'what the heck?' fashion.

"Wait a minute, you have a thing for this Gumball boy?" Jeffery asked, a smile forming on his lips.

"No! I just helped him with his poem, that's all!" denied Jamie.

"She admitted that she liked him," Melissa said with a teasing grin.

"No I __didn't__ , Mom! I NEVER said that! UGGGH!" Jamie exclaimed and groaned loudly in embarrassment.

"Now Jamie, don't be loud to your mother." Jeffery scolded her gently.

Jamie sighed and muttered, "Sorry..."

Melissa chuckled, "Don't be bashful about it, Jamie. If you like him, you like him. How about this? If you tell us the truth on you liking Gumball or not, we'll leave you alone about it and we'll order Chinese food."

"Oooh! I do love me some Chinese food!" Jeffery said in excitement.

" _ _If__ she tells us she likes Gumball or not." Melissa reminded her husband. She then turned to her daughter with a smirk, "Which I'm pretty certain she does."

Jamie put her head in her hands and moaned. She might as well get this over with. Her parents are the only people that could make her spill. Besides, she could go for some Chinese food.

Lifting her head out of her hands, Jamie rested her arms on top of her legs and leaned forward, sighing.

"Okay...I may... _ _kind of__...like the guy, alright?" Jamie admitted.

Jeffery smiled was big and enthusiastic now, "Ooooooh, my little baby girl has a __crush__!"

" _ _Dad__..." Jamie grumbled.

Melissa chuckled again, "Now see? Was that so hard?"

Jamie didn't answer as she sat there with her arms crossed and blushed a pink hue on her face.

"You know, his mother actually told me he was a good boy! And now that he's single, maybe you can ask him out on a date!" Jeffery advised, being a little too happy about this situation.

The blush on Jamie's face turned red now, "Guys..."

"That sounds like a good idea." agreed Melissa with a smirk. She turned to Jamie, "Do you remember all those lessons we taught ya on boys, Jamie?"

Jamie groaned, lifting her head up to the ceiling, "Yes, okay?"

"Oh! Actually, does he like you back? Because if he does, then that would make things a lot easier for you when you ask him out!" Jeffery prodded ecstatically.

"Dad, seriously-"

"Why wouldn't he like her back? Just look at our daughter! She's a knockout! Got it on my side of the family." Melissa said with a proud grin.

"Mom!"

"Well, I can't argue with you there, Sweetie. You were and still are a fine hot looking mama!" complimented Jeffery with a sly smirk at Melissa.

Melissa snickered, "You better believe it!"

Feeling a little queasy from all of this, Jamie said, "Okay, that's it. I'm going upstairs. I don't want to be in the middle of this anymore. Just tell me when the Chinese food is here." She got up and went to the stairs to climb them up to her room. Mr. and Mrs. Russo watched their daughter going up the stairs, Jeffery with a smile, while Melissa smirked.

Once they heard the door close, Jeffery turned to his wife with a smile and said affectionately, "She's so adorable."

Melissa chuckled, "Yeah, she is. It's really fun to tease her too."

* * *

Jamie plopped back on her bed and let out a loud sigh.

"Honestly, they never quit..."

Jamie then sat up to take off her boots and to take off her jacket, revealing that she was wearing a white T-shirt that says 'Crushers', a punk rock band. She then laid back on the bed with her attire on, as well as her purple and black striped stockings that she was wearing.

She laid there in silence...remembering what Gumball said.

" _ _You know...feeling just like everyone else doesn't make you weak."__

She stared up at the ceiling, which there was a twirling ceiling fan up there as well.

"...Maybe someday, Gumbutt. Maybe someday...but not today." Jamie said to herself.

She laid there for a while...until she remembered something else...

Jamie blinked in realization, __'Wait...he pretty much asked me if he wanted to walk me out of school...'__

...What was that all about? Could he...was he trying to...?

She shook her head, "Nah, that was just Gumball being Gumball..."

 _ _'...Still, it was sweet...'__ Jamie thought.

...Taking a deep breath and sighing, she decided to rest on her bed for a bit before the Chinese food arrives.

* * *

 ** **Well, that was the Jamie-centered chapter! I hope I did a good job on it! I know I made Coach Russo kind of a softie, but I feel like if she married a goofy guy like Jamie's dad(which he only appeared once), then she had to have a heart somewhere. And yes, I did had to think up names for Jamie's parents, so I hope that's okay. XP****

 ** **Alrighty! Got nothing else to say, except I hope you all enjoyed it! If you did, let me know! This is my longest chapter yet! 7,490 words! YAHOO! :D****

 ** **So yeah, review, follow, and fave if you want! They make me super happy! :)****

 ** **Keep on rocking everyone! ^_^****

 ** **-TSP****


	6. To Friend or Not To Friend

**[EDIT: 9/28/2017]**

 **Hey! Just letting you all know that I've edited some stuff here. Don't worry, I'm still thinking about this story. I honestly feel like I got everything planned out now, so be hyped, everyone! ;D**

 **Also, sorry if this chapter is kind of shorter than the others. D:**

* * *

"Whoa... _dude_." Darwin put a fin hand to his forehead, absorbing all the information that was given to him.

"Yep...aaaaand that is everything," Gumball said as he looked at the surface of the table, tapping on it in nervous reflex.

Darwin was quiet for a moment, "...So Jamie let you off?"

"...Kind of. I mean, I punched myself in the face." Gumball said with a shrug.

He told his fish bro all that has happened to him with Jamie while they were still in the library, to the apology, to their understanding. However, he didn't tell Darwin about any other little tidbits like him accidentally calling her 'hot' and...that kiss she gave him on the cheek. He doesn't want to let him get the wrong idea...in fact, he's still trying to understand what's going on with that. The compliment he gave to Jamie was just hormones, but Jamie's kiss on the cheek was...still confusing.

"Wow." Darwin interrupted his thoughts, "Must be a really good apology if she didn't beat you up."

"Heh, that's what Anais said." Gumball chuckled.

Darwin blinked in shock, "Wait, Anais knows!?"

"Well yeah, of course, she knows. I mean, it's not that surprising." Gumball stated.

Darwin put a fin-hand on his chin, "Yeah, I shouldn't be that surprised...still, I wonder what it means when Jamie decided not to beat you up?" Darwin asked mostly to himself.

Gumball blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you weren't my bro, and if I was a girl, I would totally wail on you for pulling my pants down."

"...Uh...okay..."

Darwin shrugged, "Hey, just being honest. But still, that's kind of strange, don't you think? For a moment she was going to murder you, but then the next she didn't do it."

"Well...she could just have a nice side," Gumball said in her defense.

Darwin looked at him weirdly, "I've never known Jamie to _be_ nice..."

"Hey, people can change in due time. That's kind of like our philosophy, you know?" Gumball reasoned.

"Well, yeah, but...still, Jamie is kind of a special case," Darwin admitted.

"Ah come on, she's not that bad."

Darwin looked at his bro peculiarly for a moment.

Gumball, noticing the odd stare Darwin was giving him, gave him one as well, "What?"

"Um, nothing, it's just...you seem to be saying some nice things about Jamie lately."

"Well...yeah. I mean, she was my tutor, I had to get to know her somehow." Gumball muttered sheepishly.

"Really? Well, what do you know about her?" Darwin asked in genuine curiosity.

"Well, for one, she likes to write poems, as you just found out."

"Oh yeah. Hm...I never thought as Jamie as a poet. Do the students know about this?"

"Either they do, or they never mention it. She did say they keep their mouths shut about it." Gumball explained.

"Hm." Darwin looked down in thought about it.

Gumball looked down from where he sat as well and thought about what he _did_ learn about Jamie. He went back and remembered on what Jamie's poem meant...

"You know...maybe Jamie just wants a good friend right now." Gumball speculated.

Darwin looked up at his bro, "What?"

"I mean, she doesn't have a friend as of this moment, and...well, I think maybe I can help her out with that." Gumball explained.

Darwin blinked at Gumball, "You...want to be friends with _Jamie_?"

Gumball sat there thinking about it. "...Yeah." he said resolutely with a nod, "I want to be friends with her."

Darwin stared at him in surprise. "... _Really_?"

Gumball, feeling kind of awkward all of a sudden from Darwin's drilling, asked him, "What? Yeah, I want to be friends with her. I mean, she looks like she needs one."

The fish boy looked at his bro for a moment...before asking him, "Gumball...please be honest with me on what I'm about to ask you..."

Gumball raised an eyebrow, "Okay..."

"...Do you find Jamie attractive?"

Eyes widened, he held onto the table to steady himself so he wouldn't fall off in shock. "Say what?"

"I mean, I'm not gonna lie, she is...well, I'll just say _pretty_ , but...well...just be honest with me on that for a second. Do you think she's pretty?"

Gumball looked at his friend with a dumbfounded look and a slight blush, "Uh...w-well..."

 _'Oh just admit it to him. You basically told her she was hot...'_

"...Well...yeah, I think she's...pretty...why do you ask?" Gumball wondered.

Darwin gazed at him in wonder, "You're not just being her friend because she's like a replacement for Penny, are you?"

"What!?" Gumball said in surprise, "Dar, of course not, I'm not _shallow_! I really want to be her friend! I feel like she deserves one!"

Darwin cringed. "Sorry, sorry! I just ask because I'd noticed you checking out the girls in our school lately." Darwin paused for a moment and he hummed in thought, "Actually, come to think of it, you were even checking them out when Penny was your girlfriend at the time."

"Wait, you...you already know about that?" Gumball said with wide-eyed dread.

Darwin shrugged, "Well, yeah. I saw you staring at Carrie one time from behind when she floated past us when you and Penny were dating."

"Oh..."

"Also, when Teri tripped that one time, you were trying very hard not to stare at her chest when you were helping her up."

"...How did you-"

" _And_ when Carmen was walking around in that cheerleader outfit on, you did catch a glance at her when she passed by...I think you were staring at her legs-"

"Okay, _okay_ , Darwin! I shamefully _glance_ at the girls in our school sometimes, alright!? I don't mean to, but I do, and it doesn't make me a shallow person whatsoever, cause I was _very_ committed to Penny! You _know_ that! I was just stressed with hormones at the time, and I started to notice how the other girls look, o _-kay_!?" Gumball exclaimed in frustration.

Darwin blinked, "Uh...okay..."

Gumball huffed and crossed his arms as he pouted in annoyance.

"...You got that out of your system?" Miss Welty asked Gumball from her reception desk.

The blue cat boy turned to glare at her.

Miss Welty rolled her eyes, "It's not my fault you kids are talking out loud in the _library_."

Gumball narrowed his eyes at the librarian. Sighing, he turned to Darwin, the same annoyed pout he had on a while ago.

"...You know, I didn't say you _were_ shallow, Gumball." Darwin said in his defense. "I know you were just going through a lot of guy stuff like any other guy in our school who likes girls. Heck, I mean, I...stare at them at times," he said with a blush.

Instantly feeling bad, Gumball frowned and sighed, "I'm sorry buddy. I was just...you know..."

"Nah, don't worry about it." Darwin reassured him, "I just want to make sure you weren't still hooked up on Penny."

"Well..." Gumball thought about it, "...Actually...no, I'm...kind of not."

"Kind of?" Darwin questioned.

"Well, I still think about her at times...maybe the feeling is just...probably fading away gradually."

Darwin raised a brow, "Dude, you could've let it gradually fade away last semester."

Gumball gave him a deadpan look.

Darwin raised his hands in defense, "Hey, just saying."

Gumball sighed once more, "Look, either way, I feel like I'm slowly getting better about Penny. I mean, I'll just say it; she's probably happy in Mexico. The warm tropic weather, nice pristine beaches, beautiful scenery. I can...probably move on if she's happy there..." he looked down from his seat to think about it some more, "...however, I do want to know if she at least cared..." his lips pursed in thought, "I still have her old phone number..."

Darwin looked at him in curiosity, "Gumball...are you thinking of calling her old number?"

Gumball shook his head, distraught. "I don't know...I just want to at least know why she didn't give me anything at all to contact her..."

Darwin frowned. He sighed as well and said, "Look, Gumball...I don't know why she wouldn't give you anything to contact her, but I'll tell you one thing that I _do_ know."

Gumball looked up, interested in what his bro has to say.

"I, without a doubt in my mind, really think Penny _did_ like you. I saw her laugh _genuinely_ at your jokes, I _never_ saw her try to avoid you in _any_ way possible, and she hung out with you _constantly_. She really _did_ like you, Bro." Darwin stated.

Gumball looked hopeful. "You...you really think so?"

"Absolutely. Believe me, she really did." Darwin looked down in thought and speculated, "Come to think of it, I'm actually starting to think the reason why she hasn't given you anything to contact you with was because of her dad."

"Whaaa? Ol' Pat-Man? Nah, come on, no way! He likes me, he wouldn't try to sabotage a long distance relationship with Penny and me." Gumball denied. "I mean, I was dating his daughter! He was perfectly fine with it."

Darwin looked back up with a raised eyebrow, "Gumball, I don't think he ever _did_ like you."

Gumball blinked, "But...I was dating his daughter at the time. He had to have been okay with it. I mean, why would Ol' Pat hate me?"

"Well, you did accidentally rear-end the front of his car while taking Penny out that one time. Also, there was that time while her parents were out for dinner, you yourself were trying to make dinner for Penny at her house and almost burned their kitchen and house down. Not to mention you keep calling him Ol' Pat, Pat-Man, Mr. Pat Nut, Pat-Pat, Nutty Professor, Patty-Wack, and-"

"Alright already, I get it," Gumball grumbled.

"Either way, even though he was okay with you dating his daughter, he was still kind of...uh, _vigilant_ when it comes to you," Darwin explained warily.

Gumball frowned at this information. "Huh...well damn. Maybe he _is_ telling Penny not talk to me..." then he actually smiled at the thought, "Hm...that kind of makes me feel a little better. I mean, that could be why Penny couldn't talk or contact me."

Darwin smiled back at his bro. "Yeah...she really did like you, Gumball."

Having an assured smile on his face, Gumball looked down once more. However, he appeared to be in thought and said out loud, "Although I do want to call her old phone number just in case she still has it..."

Darwin sighed, "Gumball..."

"Look, I know, but...I just want to make sure if she still does. Maybe I can call it and if she picks up, we can...you know, talk..."

The fish boy looked at him in sympathy. "You have to ask her, don't you?"

"...I know you said it could be her dad not wanting her to communicate with me, and...it sounds like a good possibility, but that's what it is...a possibility. I just...got to _know_ , you know?" Gumball explained.

Darwin looked at his bro in pity. "Yeah...I see what you mean. I just...don't want you to feel even more depressed if I'm wrong. _If_ I'm wrong." he iterated himself.

"I get ya..." Gumball pursed his lips once more. "...I'll try calling her on Saturday."

"Hey, it's worth a shot." Darwin shrugged.

"...Yeah." Gumball mumbled.

They all sat there in their seats at the table in silence for a moment.

"So...you want to be friends with Jamie?" Darwin asked, deciding to get back on topic.

Gumball glanced up back at Darwin. "Well...yeah. I think we're on okay terms now."

"Well, I really don't know how you're going to achieve that if she has that quote-unquote 'reputation' that she's trying to keep."

"Yeah..." Gumball put a hand on his chin in thought, "Hmm...maybe I can try to get her to open up more...the only problem is, is how I should approach her about it...I could try to talk to her somewhere alone."

Darwin looked at him peculiarly. "Wow, you're really serious about this."

Gumball shrugged, "Yeah. When I saw her sitting alone at her table during lunch, I...felt sorry for her."

Darwin frowned and glanced at his right fin-hand that was on the table, drumming them for a moment. "Well...just try not to get your face punched in while you're trying to be friends with her."

Gumball smiled softly, "I'll try."

Darwin smiled as well with a nod. He checked his waterproof watch and looked at the time. It read 3:25. "Whoa, it's almost like three thirty. We need to head on home."

"Is it that time?" Gumball wondered. "Huh. Well, let's head on out then. We'll talk about this another time."

Agreeing to that, they got their stuff from the table and were about to head out of the library, when Miss Welty called out, "Excuse me, Mr. Gumball Watterson? Can I speak with you for a moment?"

Both boys blinked and glanced at each other. The boy in question turned back to the librarian. "Um...okay?"

"Do you want me to wait for you outside while I get my stuff out of my locker?" Darwin asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Be there in a moment." Gumball told him.

While Darwin exited out of the library, Gumball went over to Miss Welty. "Um, yes Miss Welty?"

The librarian starts off by saying, "Look, I honestly think you're doing a good thing for Jamie. She really does need a friend right now."

"Oh...well, thank you, Miss Welty," Gumball said in gratitude. However he raised a brow, "You're not gonna like...tell anyone about what me, Jamie, and Darwin discussed about, are you?"

Miss Welty scoffed, "Oh please, of course not. What do you take me for, a gossiper?"

Gumball froze, "Um...no..."

Now Miss Welty raised a brow at him.

"U-Uh, um, okay then! Well, thanks for telling me that Miss Welty! See ya-"

"Wait a minute. There's something else you need to know about Jamie that would help you on trying to be her friend."

Gumball looked at her in intrigue. "Really?"

"Yes. And don't tell her I told you this. In fact, don't tell anyone. She'll give me lip if I ever told someone about her preferences."

"Um...okay."

Miss Welty nodded. She looked around to see if there was anyone around the library. Seeing that no one is around, she whispered. "Jamie likes a good book to read every once in awhile. She usually reads the classics, but she ranges to comedy, romance, and drama, with a little bit of adventure on the side."

Gumball blinked in surprise at this information. " _Really_?"

She nodded. "Yep. She says she wants to be a writer..." Miss Welty mutters, "Probably shouldn't have said that."

"...Wow." Gumball said impressed. He looked down as he mused. "Huh...makes sense. She likes to write poems..."

"Either way, don't tell her that I told you that bit of info. Just be sneaky on figuring it out." Miss Welty says.

Gumball looked back up at the librarian with a smile. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed. And thanks!"

"No prob. Now get out of here so I can read my book in peace."

Gumball chuckled. "Sure thing."

As he walked out of the library and into the halls, he paused for a moment. He remembered the text that he received from Tobias...

Gumball pulled out his phone, turning it on, and going to the text message app, as well as going to Tobias' text conversation. He texted back to him:

 _Way to go, Tobias. Jamie found out from my phone and she's gonna pummel you and Joe tomorrow._

"And send." Gumball pushed the send button with a smirk on his face. He made his way with his phone in his left hand as he found Darwin near his locker. His fish bro was getting his stuff out of his locker, which his backpack straps were on his shoulders.

"Hey man! What did Miss Welty want to speak to you about?" Darwin asked.

"Oh, just some stuff about Jamie."

"Ah. What about?"

"Can't tell ya. Sorry."

"Aww." Darwin pouted.

Gumball chuckled. His phone vibrated in his hand and he checked it to see what Tobias said.

 _Hah. Very funny. …Right?_

Gumball smirked and began typing in what he was going to say.

 _Nope. Once you text me, she..._

Gumball thought of a half lie on the spot.

"What's up?" Darwin asked again.

"Oh, just letting Tobias and Banana Joe know that they are in _big_ trouble."

"They are? From what?"

"I'll tell you after I text him back," Gumball told him.

 _...passed by me and saw the picture. She looked UPSET. She forced me to tell her who it was. I told her, and now she's coming after you two tomorrow._

"Aaand send."

"So...what are they in trouble about?" Darwin wondered.

"Ooooh, well, Joe decided to take a picture of Jamie with her pants down, AND sending it to Tobias, which he sent it to me." Gumball explained.

Darwin blanched. "They _did_ that!?"

"Yep. Jamie found out from me, and she's gonna pummel them tomorrow."

Darwin blinked. "Whoa, wait a second. She found out about the picture on _your_ phone, and _didn't_ pummel _you_? She _spared_ you?"

"Well...yeah, she did read it _was_ from Tobias," Gumball said nonchalantly.

Darwin stared at him in shock and disbelief.

Gumball looked at him, wondering why Darwin was staring at him at him that way. "What?"

"Um..." Darwin then looked at his bro in curiosity for a couple of seconds. He then put a finned hand on his chin as he glanced at the floor in thought. "Hmm..."

"...What?" Gumball asked with a confused look.

Darwin then glanced up at Gumball. "Nothing. Just...a little surprised that Jamie let you off."

"Well...yeah...we're cool now..."

Another vibration went off in his hand. He checked his phone and read the text.

 _Dude...please tell me you're joking._

Gumball snickered. "Hold on." He said to Darwin and texted Tobias back.

 _I'll let you decide that tomorrow._

"Aaaaand send." Gumball pushed the send button. He looked up at Darwin, "Come on, let's go home." He walked ahead of him, with Darwin close behind. However, the fish boy glanced at Gumball while they were walking out of school, looking quite curious.

 _'Is there something I'm missing here? Hmm...maybe I should ask Anais about it. She knows now, right?'_ Darwin thought as they were nearing Gumball's car.

* * *

"Hey, guys! We're home!" Gumball and Darwin entered their home.

They see that their pudgy father, Richard Watterson, who was wearing a white undershirt and some long khaki pants, was sitting on the couch, watching television alongside with Anais, who was sitting next to him. He turned his head to them and gave them a goofy smile, "Hey boys!"

Anais turned her head to her brothers and smiled as well, "Hey guys!"

"Oh, boys! Welcome back!" Nicole Watterson came in from the kitchen with her traditional working blouse and her gray skirt that goes to her knees. She still has the same Rainbow Factory button that's on her blouse. She came in with a healthy snack plate of peanut buttered celery with raisins.

"Hey, mom! Sorry we took so long, school held us up." Gumball said.

"Oh, no worries!" Nicole smiled sweetly. "It's nice to know my boys are working hard in their studies and extra-curricular activities."

"Thanks, Mrs. Mom!" Darwin smiled brightly.

"So, who was your English tutor, Gumball?" asked Anais.

"Um..." Should he tell them? Well, his parents wouldn't know too much about Jamie. However, Anais would. So he decided to go on ahead and tell them. He shrugged, "Jamie."

Anais' eyes widened and blinked. "Really?"

"Yep. She tutored me on my poem." Gumball stated.

"Jamie? Hmm...why does that name sound so familiar?" Nicole mutters as she stood there looking up in thought.

"Wait a minute," Richard said, a little puzzled. " _She_? But...Jamie is a boy's name..." He looked at both his wife and daughter as he became more confused. "Isn't it?"

"Well, it could work both ways as a boy and girls name," Anais confirmed with a smile.

"Oh...huh," Richard said, seemingly perplexed by that.

Nicole perked up as she remembered something. "Oh! Wait, Jamie Jasmine Russo! That's Jeffery's daughter!" she said in realization.

All eyes were turned to her, as Gumball and Darwin blinked.

"Huh? Jeffery?" Gumball asked in confusion.

"Wait...Jeffery's daughter...Jamie?" Darwin asked in surprise.

"Wait a minute...Jamie _Jasmine_ Russo?" Gumball said, double checking to see if he heard that right.

Nicole chuckled with a smile. "Yes, that's Mr. Russo's daughter. He started working at the Factory for about a month now. He's actually doing a very good job at the workplace."

"Huh...Jamie _Jasmine_ Russo..." Gumball said out loud, hearing her full name again to process it. He looked up at his mother and asked. "So...you met her dad?"

" _Jasmine_?" Darwin mutters to himself, still trying to wrap his head around the possibility of that being her middle name.

Nicole nods. "Mm-hmm. He mentioned his daughter a few times at work and showed me a picture of her when she was younger. I think she goes to your school, boys."

"Oh...did she had like, orange hair in the picture?"

"Yes, she did!" she came over to her husband and Anais to give them their treat(which Richard hesitantly took it). "I think her hair was in pigtails."

"Pigtails!?" Gumball and Darwin exclaimed. They looked at each other once more at this bombshell of information.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "Um...yes. Her father said she was three at the time in the picture."

"Huh. Jamie Jasmine Russo. That's a nice full name." Anais said with a thoughtful look as she took a bite of her peanut butter celery.

"I think so too," Nicole said with a nod and a smile.

Gumball and Darwin both stood there as they let everything sink in from what their mother said.

"Wow..." Darwin said in disbelief.

"Yeah...huh...her middle name is _Jasmine,"_ Gumball said, quite intrigued by that bit of info.

Nicole stifled a giggle. "What, you boys didn't know that?"

"No, not really," Gumball answered his mother. "She's not very open about those type of things."

"Hm. Well, either way, you said that Jamie was your English tutor. You said she was helping you with a poem?" Nicole asked.

"Oh, um, yeah, just a simple poem I had a problem with," Gumball said.

"Aw, well that's nice." Nicole smiled.

"Yeah. Um...so, you said her dad works at the Factory now?" Gumball asked his mother.

"Yep! His old job at the Color Factory closed down so he decided to apply for a job there. He's been doing really well." Nicole chuckled. "I would be jealous of his success, but he has this go-lucky, sweet attitude that everybody just finds infectious."

"Wow. Sounds like the exact opposite of Jam-oof!" Darwin was elbowed by Gumball, who sternly glanced at him. Darwin just pouted.

"Well, that's cool," Gumball said as he directed his attention to his mom with a smile.

Nicole looked at the two boys in confusion, but just let it go as she smiled back. "Yes, I think it is too. Our work environment certainly has a positive atmosphere thanks to Jeffery." She glanced at Richard. "I think you and Jeffery would get along really well, Richard. He's always a happy person."

Richard smiled. "He does sound like someone I would like to hang out with!"

Gumball looked on at his family with a smile of his own, as he said to them, "Well, I'm going to do some homework upstairs. Call me when dinner is ready." He then went up the stairs.

"Um, me too!" Darwin said as he went up the stairs with him.

Anais watched her brothers go up to their rooms. She turned to her parents and said to them. "I'm going to see if they need any help with their studies. Math in particular. See ya guys then!" she got up from her seat off the couch and walked up the stairs, munching on the peanut buttered celery.

"Alrighty then! We're having grilled chicken tonight!" Nicole called out to them as they went the stairs. She glanced at Richard who looked at the celery smothered in peanut butter and raisins with a cringe. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Come on Richard. You have to eat it. You need to be healthier."

Richard sighed. "I know..." he took a quick bite out of it. Chewing in his mouth, he hummed a bit...and swallowed it. "Eh...it's not bad."

Nicole smiled and patted her husband's back.

* * *

"So...Jamie, huh?" Anais asked.

The three of them were in Gumball and Darwin's room(Anais had a different room now) as they talked about how Jamie's tutoring effected their relationship. Darwin did text back Anais about knowing the situation on Gumball and Jamie, which they shared a nod to let each other to let the other know that they did actually know about it when Gumball revealed that Jamie was his English tutor. Gumball was sitting near his desk while Darwin was sitting on the bottom bed, which was his bro's(his bed was the top of the bunk-bed as he grew out of his fishbowl). Anais was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed.

Gumball nodded. "Yep. I was pleasantly surprised."

"I was just surprised," Darwin added.

"Hmm...did she volunteered to be your tutor?" Anais asked curiously.

Gumball blinked at the question. "Is she... _supposed_ to?"

"Well, usually when a teacher asked a student about tutoring someone, the student usually agrees to it." explained Anais.

"Oh...huh." Gumball put a hand on his chin to let this information sink in.

"You really didn't _know_ that?" Anais said as she looked at him in disbelief.

Gumball looked at his sister with a defensive look and frown. "Hey, I had a lot of things on my mind."

Anais looked at him with a cynical raised brow. "Like Penny?"

"No!" Gumball said in an instant. He sat there for a second while Anais gave him a disbelieving stare. "...Can we just get off of Penny for a moment?" Gumball grumbled.

"He did say he was gradually getting over her." Darwin clarified from where he sat.

Anais turned to Darwin. "Really?" she said in interest. She turned back to Gumball, "You said that?"

"Yes, I did, _okay_?" Gumball irritably said, crossing his arms to add the effect.

"...Hmm..." Anais hummed, intrigued.

"Anyways," Darwin said, making sure not to be stuck on the subject of Penny for too long. "I found out that Jamie and Gumball reached an 'agreement', so to say, and that he inflicted that bruise on himself."

"Yep. That's what he told me." Anais confirmed to Darwin.

"He also told me in the library that he wants to be her friend," Darwin stated.

Anais' eyes widened in shock and turned to Gumball with the same wide-eyed expression. "You said that!?"

Gumball blinked. "Well...yeah. What, is it _that_ bizarre?"

"Well...no, it's just...how you're going to achieve that?" Anais wondered.

"Hey, I like to think we're okay now. I mean, she tutored me for crying out loud." Gumball reasoned.

"Still...she _is_ a bully," Anais stated.

"...You know, I don't think she's all _that_ bad." Gumball speculated. "I think all she needs is a friend right now..."

Anais looked at her brother with a surprised expression. "Wow...you're actually serious about this."

"That's what I kind of said." Darwin smiled.

"Well, yeah...I mean, she doesn't have any friends at this moment, and...I just feel like I should hang out with her." Gumball explained.

Anais put a hand on her chin in interest. "You feel that way, huh?"

Gumball shrugged, "Yeah."

The three of them sat in their spots in silence...

"...She threatened me to not say anything about it." Darwin decided to say.

"Hmm..." Anais looked up at her older brother. "You think you _can_ be friends with her?"

Gumball thought hard on that one...then he said determinedly, "Yeah. I think I can."

Anais stared at him for a moment...until she shrugged. "Okay. I'll have to trust ya on that."

Gumball smiled at the support. "Thanks."

"No prob," Anais smirked. "By the way, your 'make-up' is coming off a little bit. You might need to apply some more."

"Oh really? Wow, thanks! I'll be right back..." realizing how that was said, he quickly defended himself. "-to apply the make-up on my bruise!"

Darwin and Anais rolled their eyes as Gumball soon got up and walked out of Darwin's and his room to apply more of the blue makeup on his cheek.

Once he left, Anais turned to Darwin and asked him, "Can I ask you something that's probably a little weird?"

Darwin blinked at the question, "Uh, sure."

Anais nodded, "Now...do you ever get the feeling that something is going on between Gumball and Jamie?"

Darwin sat there, not saying anything for the moment, as he lowered his head to think about it...until he answered, "Well...kind of."

The pink rabbit girl nodded. "I get the feeling that maybe..." she looks at the door to see if her brother would come at any moment. Seeing that she has enough time, he whispered to Darwin, "I get the feeling that maybe Jamie might like Gumball."

Surprisingly, Darwin only nodded, "I got that impression too when he explained that Tobias sent a picture to him with her pants down."

"...What?"

"Well, when she saw it on Gumball's phone, she didn't pummel him. I think he said she let him go."

"...Interesting. You might need to tell me that later."

Darwin nodded. "Sure thing."

They heard footsteps as Gumball came back to the room.

"Okay! Now that that's all done, I really think I need to do some homework as of now." Gumball clarified.

"Want me to help?" Anais smiled.

Gumball smiled back. "If you don't mind. I might need help on my algebra."

"Hey, I told Mom and Dad that I was going to help out with you and Darwin's studies, so of course I don't mind."

"Really? Cool, thanks, Anais! I need help on the whole algebra stuff as well." Darwin said as he got his backpack and hopped off the bed.

"No problem!" Anais said with a happy smile.

Gumball got his stuff opened out of his backpack and got his homework out, sitting on the floor as did Darwin, putting their homework on the floor so Anais could look over what she had to work with.

"Just know that I'm _tutoring_ you boys on math. I'm not doing your homework." Anais reminded them.

Both boys rolled their eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

While they looked over their algebra homework, Gumball distracted himself with one thought.

 _'Yeah...I am doing the right thing. She just really needs a friend...'_

"Gumball?"

Gumball snapped out of his thoughts and directed his attention to Anais, "Yeah?"

"I said do you think you can answer the first question?" she asked.

"Um..." he looked at the problem. "I think I can."

"Then go on ahead and show me," Anais instructed him as she handed him a pencil.

Gumball took it and began to work on the problem. Anais stared at her brother for a moment thoughtfully, wondering how the whole Gumball and Jamie situation will stand.

 _'Well, we'll just have to see what happens in school tomorrow...things are starting to get very_ interesting _indeed.'_

Darwin, on the other hand, was thinking of something else.

 _'For the life of me, I got to remember not to call Jamie '_ Jasmine _'...'_

* * *

 **Well, there you go! I hope this chapter was well worth the wait! Tell me how I did! :D**

 **As usual, leave a follow, fave, and review if you like it! I'm glad you're all enjoying this so far! ^_^**

 **Keep on rocking everybody! ;D**

 **[Again, don't worry, I'm still writing this story. ;) ]**

 **-TSP**


	7. Writing Buddies

**Hey all! Sorry for the long wait. Just got so many projects, work, the holidays, family, life, you know the drill. Also, I was having trouble with thinking up the beginning of the chapter here, BUT I think I got it all sorted out.** **Speaking of which, I think I have a solid plot for this story! Just to let you all know right now though, things will get pretty dramatic in the future. But it'll still have that charm the show is known for, so don't worry! :) Also, remember, it's an AU! ;D**

 **So without further ado, let's get this show on the road! ^_^**

 **(By the way, Darwin will be the same age as Gumball, just so once again, it stays consistent. XP )**

* * *

 _The Next Day..._

* * *

Gumball, Darwin, and Anais all sat quietly in Gumball's semi-beat up and used-car that he got for his sixteenth birthday, the fish boy sitting in the passenger seat, while the little pink rabbit girl was at the back seat.

Gumball decided to wear an unbuttoned blue and black plaid shirt with a white t-shirt underneath that says "Yes. There are words on this shirt.". It's a part of his weird sense of humor. He's also wearing blue jeans and Converse sneakers on his feet.

Darwin was wearing his green hoodie jacket, all zipped up, possibly having a shirt underneath, and light blue jeans with his signature green sneakers.

Anais was wearing a cute pink blouse and is wearing jeans, complete with lady sneakers. She had her hair tied in a cute ponytail, with her adorable rabbit ears springing up.

As all three sat in the car and rode their way to school, they were thinking separate things in relation to this day...

 _'Well...today is a Friday. I got the whole school day to actually confront Jamie about this whole 'friendship' thing. I need to find a way to talk to her and...maybe hang out? Either way, I can't waste this opportunity...well, I have next week to talk to her about it, but I hate waiting that long! ...And on an unrelated note, I_ hate _wearing this makeup on my cheek.'_ Gumball thought irritably on the last part.

 _'Hmm...I can tell from looking at Gumball he's nervous...I got to give him one of those reassuring talks before we go into the school.'_ Anais thought.

 _'Don't accidentally call Jamie 'Jasmine'...'_ Darwin kept repeating that sentence in his head the whole ride to school.

As Gumball drove his way to the school parking lot, he parked and cut off the engine. He took a deep breath, "Okay..." he turned to his sister and fish bro with a smile. "Welp, today is a Friday, guys! The weekend is upon us!"

Darwin smiled. "Yep! Do you want to play Fighting the Fighters VI when we get home?"

"Would I!? You bet!" Gumball said with a grin.

Anais smiled at the boys' enthusiasm. They may be dorks at times, but to her, that's why she loves her brothers.

"Well, let's get in there!" Gumball proclaimed as he unbuckled his seat-belt, getting his backpack and opening his car door.

Darwin did the same, as well as Anais, who went out of the car door to her left.

As soon Gumball got out of his car and closed the car door, he felt a tap on his back.

"Huh?" queried Gumball as he turned around to see Anais in front of him.

"Look, Gumball. Just relax and find a good opportunity to talk to Jamie about this. If you guys _are_ sort of friends now, then maybe you can be her friend for real. Just be yourself...seriously, _be_ _yourself_ , okay?" Anais advised with careful narrowed eyes.

Gumball blinked but smiled at his younger sister with a chuckle. "Sure thing, Sis. And I will. Thanks."

Anais nodded with a smile on her face as well. "No problem,"

"Uh, guys?" Darwin said as he came to their side of the car. "We gotta get going. The bell is gonna ring in ten minutes,"

"Coming!" Anais piped up, walking up to Darwin.

"Uh, yeah, coming," Gumball said as he carried his backpack on his back.

As they walk together to school, Gumball gave out one last thought before entering. _'Yeah...just relax. You can do this...maybe I can catch her during English class...yeah, that'll be good.'_ With a nod, he entered the school.

* * *

After homeroom(which Gumball and Darwin share), they went to their respective lockers to put up their stuff and get to their first classes.

Gumball has, of course, English/Creative Writing as his first class. He kind of liked it to be honest. Not only because Mr. Douglas is a nice teacher, but it's also the easiest of all of his classes, and that's saying something coming from him. Although he had to study excerpts from old classic stories from people that are long dead, he is sort of interested in the stories. Sure, some were kind of kind of boring, like that Shakespeare one about some guy named "Hamlet", but he enjoyed the adventure ones, like the one story about pirates, named "Treasure Island". The writing may be dated, but it was still an interesting read. But other than that, he did enjoy the class. Although, there was one class assignment that did make him...well, not cry, but teary-eyed. That assignment was none other than "Romeo and Juliet". He's not one for romance-tragedies, although, it made him reminisce _his_ lost(figuratively speaking) loved one, Penny.

Still, he made a solid B-minus on the report. He wished he'd gone higher, but it was still a good grade that made Mr. Douglas appreciate the effort. Speaking of grades, he placed the poem on his teacher's desk. He hoped it sounded poetic enough.

He picked a seat in the middle row to his left in in one of the desks in the middle row, and to his left, he saw the color orange in his peripheral vision. Turning his head to his left was Jamie, who sat in the desk next to him.

Gumball blinked. _'Whoa...talk about luck.'_

She's wearing a white shirt with a dark green stripe across her chest and still has her metal knobbed bracelets around her wrists. She's also wearing her black denim jean shorts and her army-gothic boots.

 _'Huh...it seems like she always wears shorts. I mean, sure, it's the season to wear them, but I never see her wear jeans. ...Well actually, she_ does _wear jeans whenever it's cold outside, so she doesn't wear shorts every other day in school...it could be she doesn't wear jeans all the time because her legs are a little thick for her age and would constrict...'_

It was then Gumball realized that he's been staring at Jamie's legs like a freak.

 _'...I'm really having an internal debate about this, am I?'_

Luckily for him, Jamie didn't seem to notice, as she opened her notebook, ready to take notes.

Realizing that class must be starting, Gumball turned his head to his arriving teacher, Mr. Douglas. Class soon began, and Mr. Douglas was beginning his lecture, teaching the kids literature basics.

It went by rather fast to be honest, and Gumball was learning quite a bit from the lesson. He seems to be focusing more now on what he's being taught, which was odd because he always feels despair whenever he learns anything...

...When did this happen?

"Alright, class! It's time for a writing report!" Mr. Douglas called out before the class ended.

Few moaned and complained, but Gumball sat there slightly smiling. Curious, he turned to see Jamie's reaction. It would seem she's just sitting there straight, arms crossed, and ready to hear the assignment. Sensing eyes on her, she turned her head to Gumball.

Gumball winced and quickly looked back at the teacher.

Mr. Douglas hooed/laughed. "Oh come now! It'll be fun! The assignment will be a 2,000-word short story of your own, let it be comedy, drama, or romance! Write to your heart's content so that your creativity can fly! However, this will be a team effort, so I'll be putting you all into pairs for this assignment!"

Groans emitted from the class, but Gumball looked a little excited. He was quite the storyteller when he wanted to be, given that he made up a lot of absurd stuff back in junior high. He can certainly try to make a comedy since he likes to think he has a funny bone. The only question now, is who will be his partner?

"Oh come on, don't be spoilsports! You only have two weeks to complete this project, so there's no rush." Mr. Douglas said with a humorous chuckle. He then grabbed a bowl that's been on his desk, which was filled with scraps of paper. "Now, I've set up a system of _who_ will be paired by _who._ I've written two same exact numbers and _who_ ever has the same numbers as the student, will be paired up with that student!" With that, he passed the bowl to the first desk row of students.

Soon, it came to the middle desk row. The student next to Jamie's left(an oblong looking student) quickly passed it to her, as if she'll bite any moment. The bull-lion girl grabbed the bowl and swiftly took a piece of paper, all the while giving it to Gumball without looking at him. Gumball took the bowl and grabbed a piece of paper as well, giving the bowl to the next student to his right. This kept going on until the strips of papers are empty in the bowl.

Gumball opened his piece of paper to see what number he had, which has the number _'1'_ on it. He smirked, _'Well, this piece of paper knows its stuff.'_

"Alright! Now to call out the numbers that have been selected!" Mr. Douglas said with an enthusiastic smile. " _Who_ ever has the pair of number ones, raise your hands!"

Gumball shot his hand upward like like he won the lottery.

However, his class slightly gasped.

Gumball looked to his right with a frown. _'What? I'm not_ that _annoying, am I?'_

But as soon as he turned to his left...he sees that Jamie has her hand raised as well.

Jamie looked over to her right also, her eyes filled with shock behind her hair, having a dumbfounded look on her face.

Gumball's expression was only blank as he blinked, baffled at this development. _'...Wow. It's like the Universe is on my side today...I don't know if that's good or bad.'_

Mr. Douglas though ignored the reactions from the class and went on to say, "Alright! You two will be paired up! Now, _who_ ever has number two..."

* * *

The bell rung and everyone got up from their seats, grabbing their things as they head towards the exit of their class. Gumball gathered his things and stood up, about to walk away from his desk, when movement caught his left eye. It was Jamie as she sped across Gumball's desk, not looking at his direction as she passed him while carrying her things. She was the first to leave the class quickly, almost bumping into students as she made her way out(which they got out of her way in hopes of not angering her).

Gumball tried to raise a hand towards her to stop her but quickly dropped it, not wanting to look suspicious. He frowned, _'Well, damn. This is an unexpected turn of events.'_

As he stood there, he could hear the soft murmurs from his class quite clearly.

" _Man, how unlucky can Gumball get?"_

" _I feel sorry for the guy."_

" _It's like trouble always follows him."_

" _Actually, I wouldn't blame Jamie for beating him up. You got to respect a girl's privacy."_

" _Still, what Gumball did was kind of epic."_

" _Yeah...even though he had to wear makeup because of it."_

That last comment almost made him want to try to find the person who said that. Either way, he _could_ tell his other classmates that being Jamie's partner for this project wasn't all that bad, but for some reason, he felt like he had to keep this charade up with Jamie supposedly beating him up along with this reputation she has.

As he thought about it, he felt a hand on his right shoulder, causing him to jump. He turned around to see that it was Sarah(who also has his class as well) who expressed concern for the blue cat boy.

Sarah actually turned cute and attractive during the years, even though she became taller, being 5'11" and on the girls' basketball team. She was still the same nerdy ice cream girl, with her dripping blonde hair that styled into twin pigtails, and her front buck-teeth just barely showing. But the only thing that's changed about her was that she grew out of her "Gumball and Darwin" phase...kind of. She still has somewhat a thing for both Gumball and Darwin but isn't weird about it as she normally was. Her attire consists of black rimmed glasses on her face and a waffle cone colored short sleeved shirt, with a pair of denim shorts, complete with sandals.

"Oh, hey Sarah." Gumball greeted her.

"Hey Gumball," Sarah said with sympathetic eyes. She whispered to him. "Look, I know pairing up with Jamie sounds pretty scary, especially with what you've done to her, and how she beat you up for it,"

"Uh..." Gumball had no comment on that.

"But just try not to get on her bad side. Try not to mention anything that happened on that day, okay?"

"Uh...yeah, okay, sure," Gumball said, a little uncomfortable talking about this topic.

Sarah nodded. "And Gumball, I know you're having a hard time coping after," she paused, before continuing, "the _break-up,_ but I know you can overcome it. There's plenty of girls out there who's lucky to have you."

Gumball rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Um...thanks, Sarah."

Sarah nodded again, this time with a sweet but shy smile on her face, her voice in a normal tone. "Who knows? Maybe she's right under your nose~."

Eyes looking at her oddly, Gumball stared at her puzzled. Upon realizing what she meant, Gumball raised a brow and gave her dubious look, "Sarah, come on..."

Sarah pouted, "Aww...well, I tried. But if you ever want to get with a tall girl..." she winked at him.

Gumball rolled his eyes with a smirk. "I'll keep that in mind."

She giggled. "I bet you will!" Sarah then skipped past Gumball and out of the class.

They have this sort of banter every now and then. Sarah flirts a little, and Gumball(as well as Darwin) kindly declines. She doesn't take it harshly at all; it's a part of their friendship. She's usually kidding around anyway(again, kind of).

Chuckling, Gumball prepared to make his way out of the class, him being the last one to go when Mr. Douglas called him. "Oh, Mr. Watterson! I just want to say that you did really well on your poem!"

"Oh, thanks, Mr. Douglas." Gumball smiled.

"You're quite welcome! In fact, here is your grade!" the teacher gave him his poem back, the paper having an 'A' on it.

"Ah, sweet! Thanks, Mr. Douglas!" the boy grinned.

Mr. Douglas chuckled. "Oh, don't thank me! You're the one who made the poem. It seems Jamie did quite well on teaching you and letting your inner poet shine!"

Gumball smiled. "Yeah, she did."

"Hoo- _hoo_! I knew she would. She's my top student! I also find it very funny that you and Jamie are now partners for both of your writing project!"

With a sheepish smile, Gumball said. "Heh, yeah...that was uh, that was something."

Mr. Douglas nodded. "Indeed it is."

"Yeah..." Gumball rubbed the back of his head. "Well, either way, thanks for the 'A', Mr. Douglas! See ya tomorro-"

"Actually, Mr. Watterson, I have to ask you something." Mr. Douglas piped up.

Gumball blinked. "Oh...okay. What do you want to ask?"

Mr. Douglas smiled in sympathy. "Gumball...was this poem really about a dog?"

Gumball's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"Be honest with me now, young man. This poem sounds a little _too_ intimate to be about your supposed dog that's passed away."

The blue cat boy's mind froze. "Uh...o-of course it's about my dog!" he stuttered, trying to cover his tracks. "What, I can't grieve over a pet I used to own? Victor was a go-...good dog. A very _good_ dog. He really was, honest!" realizing how that sounded, Gumball's eyes widened again. "I-I mean, of course he was, he was a good little chihuahua! Bless the thing, it's gone off to whatever ho-place! ...I mean, he's off to whatever...place that he calls home when he dies. He's with all of his other dog pals, up...there in...dog heaven..." he smiled sheepishly.

Mr. Douglas raised a just brow. "Well...be as it may, I know you've been struggling a little bit in your classes from what the other teachers have been saying."

Gumball cringed. "Uh...well...hey, you know...high-school and stuff. It's kind of hard."

The teacher's smile turned poignant. "Gumball...you don't have to hide anything. I know it's about Penny."

"What!?" Gumball exclaimed. "N-no! How-I mean-come on, I'm not some sad sap who cries about his ex-girlfriend! W-We move on to different things! Manly things! I-I'm not a pansy!"

Mr. Douglas shook his head with a smirk. "Gumball, it's okay to admit it. Being a man is also confessing to whatever is burdening you."

Gumball was about to object...but he sighed exasperatedly. "Look, I...I did have a dog one time."

The literature teacher nodded. "I'll take your word for it. But I _do_ think this is about Penny, isn't it?"

"Look, it's not about Pen-"

"Gumball, you might as well fess up. The teachers all know that you're still hooked up on Penny."

Gumball paused, his mouth dropped open...with a groan, the boy said, "Am I _that_ much an open book?"

Chuckling, Mr. Douglas said to him, "Sorry to say it, Gumball, but you're about the easiest book I've read. And I've read War and Peace."

Now Gumball raised a brow, certainly interested. "You read War and Peace? Isn't that like...a really old huge book written by some guy in Russia?"

Mr. Douglas laughed/hooed at Gumball's simple way of putting it. "To answer your two questions; yes, I have, and yes, it is. Anyways, Gumball, I just want to say that you shouldn't be burden by past events, especially ones that involve past relationships. Penny was a really good girl, and I know it must've been hard to see her move away from here to Los Cabos."

Gumball frowned a bit, looking down at the floor. "Yeah...it was..." he muttered. He looked up at his teacher. "But I'm...kind of getting over it now. I had a good talk with Darwin about how Penny really did enjoy my company and...that she really did like me. And I've been thinking that she didn't break up with me because of...well, _me_ , but mostly because of circumstances with her family...and...these past few days kind of made me realize that I should be happy for Penny. I mean, she's at a nice tropical city in Mexico, enjoying the culture there, and possibly enjoying the natural beauty, like the nice white sandy beach shores...yeah..." He finished with a small smile on his face.

The teacher nodded, smiling understandingly. "I do see that certain change in you right now. You seem to be little... _happier_ today."

"Heh, yeah. I guess I'm...kind of moving on, so to speak."

"Well, I want to encourage you on your path to recovery, Gumball. I know you'll find that right girl in somewhere along the line in the future." Mr. Douglas reassured him.

Gumball smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Mr. Douglas."

"Oh, it's no problem! Just doing my part as a teacher!" Mr. Douglas chuckled. "Now, I wasted enough of your time, off you go to your next class. And good luck on your and Jamie's writing report!"

"Sure thing!" Gumball said with a smirk and a nod.

* * *

 **Wow...I feel like this is a horrible place to stop for a chapter. I was going to write more, but I felt like this was a good place to stop...I mean, is it? O_o Well, either way, I just want to let you all know that I'm still writing this story! ;D Also, a little bit of an announcement; I'm going to have a wisdom tooth extracted on Thursday...yep. First time too. I'm kind of dreading it, but hey, it probably won't be so bad...honestly, I just want to get it over with. XP**

 **LOL, okay, enough of my problems. How's the chapter in general? I hope it's still good for you all! :) In fact, do you all like it? Love it even? Then give it a fave and follow! Or review if you want to! :D**

 **Until then, keep on rocking everybody! ...And maybe wish me luck(or pray, either one is good) on the wisdom tooth thing? D:**

 **See ya! ^_^**

 **-TSP**


	8. Big Trouble

**Hey everybody! Here's a slightly longer chapter to make up for the shorter one. Hooray! :D**

 **Okay, let's get going! ;)**

* * *

As Gumball walked through the halls after his third period in school(which was History), he went to his locker to put away his stuff, ready to go get some lunch. As he closed his locker, he recalled the conversation he had with Mr. Douglas. Remembering Penny was always a struggle for him, especially at school. Sometimes he likes to reminisce about the times he had with her, like at places such as the science class that they shared when she lived in Elmore. The basketball games they watch together at the gymnasium. Their table in the cafeteria...

Gumball sighed miserably. But then he snapped out of it, scowling as he shook his head, "Man, come on Gumball, you're happy for her! I have to move on from this!"

Nodding at that, he walked down the halls to head to the cafeteria. Passing multiple lockers until he rounded a corner, his phone vibrated.

"Hm?" He fished out his phone out of his pocket and looked who texted him.

It was from Tobias.

 _(Dude, where are you right now?)_

Gumball raised a brow. He typed back.

 _(Near the cafeteria.)_

Once he sent the text, he waited a bit for him to reply. Chances are, he wanted something, and Gumball was gonna be his errand boy today. Sighing at his misfortune, he stood there waiting as he watched the students go into the cafeteria.

Soon, the phone in his hand vibrated again. He looked at the screen.

 _(Great! You're close by! Look in the trash bin next to the cafeteria doors!)_

Now Gumball blinked. "Huh?" _'What the heck?'_

He turned to the trash bin that was, sure enough, next to the cafeteria doors. He walked to it and stopped. Not knowing what he's getting himself into, he pushed the flap inward to look inside.

Only to see that Tobias was _in_ the trash bin.

"GAH!" Gumball yelped in surprise, backing away from the trash bin in shock. Tobias lifted the top of the trash bin, his eyes the only thing that's showing as he peeked out of it.

"Shh!" he hushed Gumball, his eyes showing apprehension as he glanced from left to right inside the trash bin.

Blinking, Gumball raised a finger, about to say something when Tobias shushed him again, this time harshly. "Shhhh!" he then ducked back inside the trash container.

Gumball just stood there dumbfounded, wondering what had just occurred. His phone buzzed again, and he looked at his phone screen. Another text from Tobias.

 _(Is Jamie around?)_

Gumball raised a brow, but then it clicked. _'Oooh...he's hiding from Jamie.'_ Smirking at Tobias' situation, he texted back.

 _(Nope. Don't see her around anywhere at this point.)_

After he sent that text, he waited a bit for him to reply back, which Tobias did.

 _(For real?)_

Rolling his eyes Gumball lifted the flap of the trash can, looked into it and said, "Yes."

"Hey, come on man!" Tobias whispered in a panic.

"Look, she's not around," Gumball whispered back. "Seriously though, you're hiding in a _trash can_?"

"I'm not hiding!" Tobias whispered loudly.

"Really? Then what's this called?" Gumball challenged and gestured the trash bin to his sort-of friend.

"It's...it's a place where I do my private stuff!"

"Really?" Gumball said dubiously. "Like what?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Gumball gave him a surprised raised brow, then his expression turned into a look of disgust. "Um...no. I-I rather not, dude."

"Hey, you asked."

Gumball sighed in exasperation. "Look, it's obvious you're hiding from Jamie."

"Okay, fine! I'm hiding from her! All because you couldn't put your phone away in time when I sent that message!" Tobias whispered loudly once more in a frustrated fit.

"Well, I said a little thing about not looking at it in the halls where the whole school body can see it."

"Exactly! Where were you when she saw it?" Tobias questioned.

Rolling his eyes again, Gumball glowered at him. "At the library."

"Hah. Funny. Seriously, where were you?" Tobias asked again with a roll of his eyes as well.

Raising a brow, Gumball replied, "Uh, at the school library, dude."

"...Really? What would Jamie be doing at the library?" Tobias asked with genuine curiosity.

Gumball blinked. _'Oh man, wait. Should I say that Jamie is my English tutor? ...Nah, that would be awkward.'_ "Uh...checking out a book?"

Tobias stared at him incredulously. "Jamie _reading_ a book? I find that hard to believe."

Gumball frowned at that jab at Jamie. "Hey, she can read like everyone else."

"Pfft. Whatever. So how did you survive her onslaught?" Tobias asked curiously.

Annoyed at Tobias' dismissive attitude towards Jamie, the blue cat boy thought of something up on the spot. "Eh, she...just went easy on me cause she already had beaten me up."

"Huh. Well aren't you the lucky one?" scowled Tobias.

"Hey, you were the one who sent the picture, I had nothing to do with it." Gumball then glanced around the area, and asked, "By the way, where's Banana Joe? He's usually around with you."

"Oh, he's probably hiding in his locker. That won't do him any good, though. That's like, the first most obvious place to look."

"And yet, you're hiding in a trash bin."

"Hey, it's working so far, isn't it?" Tobias countered.

Gumball groaned. "Look, what is it you want?"

"Just some lunch until next period starts again. I can lend you my lunch money."

"What!? Seriously? That's it? Why don't you just get out that trash can, get some lunch quickly, and go back to your hiding place to eat it?"

"Are you kidding me? That's suicide! I'm not taking the chance of Jamie spotting me!"

"Well I need lunch as well, and I'm not gonna go through the process _again_ of trying to pick out what _**food**_ _you_ _want_!"

"Ah, come on, it's pizza day! There's not even a big selection of food going on, it's _pizza_!" Tobias whined pitifully. "Help a friend out, will ya?"

"Look, I'm already wasting my time here as it is, so I need to get to the cafeteria and get my _own_ food. You're just going to have to suck it up and get it yourself."

"Gumball?" said a female's voice. "Uh, what are you doing?"

Gumball jumped in surprise as he quickly turned around to see none other than Carrie floating there behind him.

Carrie was still petite, but she certainly had some curves on her hourglass ghostly body. Her attire was of a punk/goth casual, but it leaned more of the punk-ish variety than goth. She was wearing a purple shirt with a flaming red heart on it, and black jeans, complete with black and white converse shoes. She still has that cute face and her short straight ghostly hair was stylized with some of it overlapping her left eye. She also has some subtle pink eyeshadow to accent her black eyes. Her skull hair clip is still in place on the right side of her hair.

"Oh, Carrie! Hey, um..." Gumball tried to think of a good excuse. "I was just, uh..." not thinking of anything, he just went with the next best thing. "H-Hey! How was Chemistry?"

Carrie blinked at the sudden change of topic and said hesitantly. "Um...it was fine...was there a reason why you were whispering to the trash?"

"Uh...I'm probably just...delirious and hungry?" Gumball said in lame fashion with a forced smile.

Carrie raised an unconvinced eyebrow and glanced around Gumball to look at the trash bin. "Uh-huh...excuse me for a moment." She then floated towards him, went intangible, and phased through the blue cat boy.

"ACK!" Gumball yelped at the feeling of having another presence inside him. He stepped forward, going through Carrie to get out of her way as he turned around to face her from the back. "Whoa! Hey, C-Carrie, come on, you agreed not to do that anymore!"

Carrie ignored him and poked her intangible head through the trash can.

"AAAAAH!" a girlish scream emitted from inside the container...it didn't sound like Carrie either.

"Tobias?" Carrie asked inside the trash in surprise. "What are you doing in here?"

"Shhhh!" Tobias exaggerated shushing can be heard.

Carrie got her head out of the trash bin and turned to Gumball. "Let me guess; Tobias is in trouble with someone?"

Gumball chuckled lightly. "Yep. Jamie."

"Ah. What did he do this time?" Carrie asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"It's more like what I _didn't_ do!" Tobias said as he lifted the top of the trash container up. "I wasn't the one who took the picture of Jamie with her pants down, Banana Joe did!"

Carrie's eyes widened as she turned to her side to glare at Tobias. "I actually did saw him do that. And it _would_ make sense that he'd sent that to _you."_

"Hey, Gumball has it on his phone as well! I sent it to him! And then she saw him with the pic on his phone!" Tobias countered.

Carrie turned her head to Gumball, a surprised look on her face.

Gumball eyes widened as his mouth was a agape. He shook his head and then glared at Tobias, "You know Tobias, I _never asked_ for you to send it to me!"

"Ah come on, you got to admit that she's at least hot!" Tobias argued.

"Wait, wouldn't you've been messed up by Jamie as well if that's the case, Gumball?" Carrie asked him in question.

Before he could answer, Tobias beats him to him. "Nah, she spared him for some reason."

Gumball scowled at Tobias while Carrie raised her eyebrow at the cat boy oddly. "Really?" the ghost girl asked him.

He casually shrugged. "Hey, she said she already delivered pain onto me."

 _'Although, I did the pain-delivering myself, but they don't need to know that...'_ Gumball thought with pursed lips.

"Huh...that's strange. I would think she'd be more angry at you because of that stunt you pulled." Carrie pondered out loud.

"Exactly!" Tobias agreed.

"Tobias, shut up," Gumball said, rolling his eyes. Tobias just scowled at him.

"Well...either way, it's good that you didn't get hurt a second time. I wouldn't think of putting another shade of makeup would do you any wonders." Carrie joked in good-nature with a smirk.

Gumball groaned. "Oh _come on_ , it's not _that_ noticeable, is it?"

"Well, not as noticeable as the pink eyeshadow on my eyelids, but I can see a hint of it when I phased through you," Carrie advised smirk still in place. Her smirk dropped, however, "Still, that was a gutsy move you made back there two days ago. I'm surprised Jamie didn't do worse to you. Next time, think before you do those things."

"Yes, Ma'am," Gumball said with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey, don't I get some words of advice as well, Sweet-Cheeks?" Tobias asked Carrie with a sly grin, trying to look suave in the trash bin.

Carrie turned to him with a glare. "Yes, you do. If you ever call me _Sweet-Cheeks_ again, I'll possess you and let you be out in the open for Jamie to see."

Grin dropped, Tobias' eyes widened at the threat. "Yeesh, okay, sorry. Not a good name, I get it."

Carrie rolled her eyes and turned to Gumball with a slight smile. "Either way, it's pizza day, so we should get some before it's gone. Would...it be okay if I joined your table?" she asked, looking a little bashful all of a sudden.

Gumball smiled. "Sure, Care. You know you don't have to ask."

Carrie rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, I know, I just..." she chuckled. "Yeah, okay, I'll see you guys at the table." She floated to the cafeteria doors and phased through them.

Tobias made a sound of appreciation. "Mm! Why haven't you tapped that yet?" he said to Gumball.

The blue cat boy glared at him for a second and said, "I'm gonna leave you in the trash now." and walked to the cafeteria doors. "And I'm still not getting your food."

"Aw, come _on_ , man!" Tobias whined as he hid back in the trash bin.

* * *

"How many slices?" said a screeching woman's voice. "And don't say six, you know the amount is always three!"

Gumball rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't dream of it, Miss Simian. Just two slices of pizza for me."

Miss Simian, the ex-junior high school teacher turned lunch-lady, 'humph'.

"Hey Gumball!" Darwin said as he slid next to him with his lunch tray in hands.

Anais also came up to the two at Darwin's side with a tray in her hands as well. "Hey, bro!"

"Hey guys," Gumball said to them with a smile.

"Oh great. The whole gang is here." Miss Simian said with sarcasm. "How many slices do you two gremlins want?"

"Three for me! I'm hankering for some Italian pie!" Darwin said in enthusiasm.

"Just one for me, please," Anais said politely.

As Miss Simian gave them their slices, she directs her attention to Gumball. "So, how's your loveless love life going, kid?"

Gumball sighed in annoyance, "Do you have to ask that every time I get food, Miss Simian?"

"Hey, just looking out for you brats." Miss Simian said with a smirk.

"Thanks," Gumball shook his head as he rolled his eyes once more. "But to answer your question, it's going very well. But enough about me, how's _your_ love life?"

"Going mighty fine, thank you for asking! Principal Brown and I do a little roleplaying every once in a while. I'd be the principal and he'd be the student." Miss Simian bragged.

...Gumball's eye twitched, as well as Darwin's and Anais'. "Wow...I did _not_ need to know that." Gumball said with a cringe.

"Neither did we," Anais commented with a grimace.

"I...don't think I can eat my pizza now..." Darwin cringed as he looked down at his food.

"Hey, you asked." Miss Simian chuckled. "Now keep moving. There are more kids in line who want to eat this stuff."

"I think we will at this point," Gumball said as he took his tray and paid for the food. As he did, he saw that Carrie was waiting for them.

"Oh, hey again, Carrie!" Gumball greeted with a smile.

"Oh, C-Carrie, hey!" Darwin said with a bigger smile.

"What's up, Care-Bear?" Anais greeted as well with a smirk.

Carrie chuckled. "Nothing much. I was gonna sit with you guys today."

"Really!?" Darwin said with a happy grin, but caught himself, "Oh, uh, I mean...cool..." he said now with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, I invited her," Gumball said. He turned to Carrie, "Follow me, milady."

Carrie giggled. "Sure thing!" she then floated next to Gumball as he led the way. Darwin frowned when Carrie floated next to Gumball.

As they walked/floated their way to the Watterson table, Gumball and Carrie were conversing with each other, while Darwin and Anais were behind them. Anais took a glance at Darwin, whose eyes were looking a little downward. Seeing what Darwin's eyes were staring at, she frowned and elbowed his side.

"Ow! What?" Darwin asked his adoptive sister in confusion.

"Keep it together, lover boy," Anais whispered. "I don't think the _ghost girl_ in front of you would take too kindly of you staring at her _rear_."

Darwin's face became red as he became nervous. "Uh, no, I-I uh, I was...um..."

"Just take deep breaths and talk to her, Darwin," Anais whispered to him softly with reassuring eyes.

"I, uh...sh-she's talking to Gumball right now. I-I...don't want to interrupt their conversation." Darwin whispered back as he looked down in melancholy.

Anais frowned at her other brother and sighed, shaking her head.

Once they were close to their table, however...

" _AAAAAAAAAHHH!"_

A girlish scream, a clatter of a lunch tray, and running sneakered feet filled the once noisy room, the place now being silent. Gumball and the gang turned to the source of the sound behind them.

Zipping past through them was none other than Tobias, looking frantic as he dashed to the cafeteria doors that led outside. The gang looked on at the speeding would-be jock, a little dumbfounded until someone else passed them.

It was Jamie, who sped past them with a determined run and almost looked like she had a look to kill. She slammed through the outside cafeteria doors, leaving Gumball and them in a stunned state.

"Hey! No running in the cafeteria!" Miss Simian hollered out.

The cafeteria remained silent...until they went back to eating.

Carrie sighed as she shook her head. "Well, there he goes. Who here bets he's gonna survive with just a broken nose?"

"I would be surprised she let him walk at all," Anais commented.

Gumball, however, looked at the doors in guilt somewhat. On the one hand, Tobias got what he deserved. On the other hand, he didn't really want the doofus to get hurt. And on the _other_ third non-existing hand, he needed to talk to Jamie about this friendship deal, which he thinks now would be a good time to talk to her about it...once he diffused the situation.

It was then he decided.

Gumball sighed and placed his lunch tray on their table. He began to make a run to the outside doors.

"Whoa, Gumball, what are you doing!?" Carrie asked him in shock.

"Bro?" Darwin said with unease.

"Gumball?" Anais said with a worried look.

"Sorry! I feel like it's my responsibility!" Gumball shouted out to them as he went through the doors.

The three of them stood there stunned once more.

"Wow...what a guy," Carrie said casually with a small smile a hand on her hip.

Darwin, upon hearing that, felt a twinge of jealousy as he frowned and looked at the floor. Anais winced at the reaction on Darwin.

Meanwhile, in a bigger trash container, a head poked out of the trash.

"Joe? What are you doing in the trash?" Miss Simian asked the banana boy with a raised eyebrow. It seemed he was next to the cashier where the food line ends.

But Banana Joe ignored her as he had a resolute expression on his face. It was a look of intent, almost like he was gathering the courage to do a difficult and dangerous task that he must fulfill.

"I now know what I _must_ _ **do**_." Banana Joe got out of the trash and dashed through the cafeteria and through the doors, also passing Darwin, Anais, and Carrie, whom all three looked on in stupefaction.

"...This could turn out bad." Anais said, throwing her two cents in.

"What is going on here!?" said a refined voice.

The three kids turned to look at the new voice, it being Principal Brown. For some reason, Mr. Brown decided to become principal of Elmore High School. His hairy round body, big round glasses, and clothes are still the same, as well as his demeanor. He was walking up to the three, not looking happy in the slightest.

"Oh, uh, hey Principal Brown," Anais said a little nervously.

"Wait a minute..." Mr. Brown did a headcount to the three. "Where's Gumball?"

"Uuuuuh..." Darwin droned, trying to think of something to say.

"Gumball is trying to stop a fight from happening!" Carrie said immediately.

"What!?" Mr. Brown exclaimed.

"It's true, Bae-I mean-I mean...Principal Brown!" shouted and corrected Miss Simian at the food stand, "Tobias, Joe, and Jamie are outside about to lay some smackdown! And I guess Gumball is stopping them! I don't know, he could be fighting them for all I know!"

Mr. Brown groaned. "Oh, and here I thought I was gonna have a _good_ Friday..." he turned his attention to the kids in the cafeteria. "Kids, continue eating your food! I'll settle this matter here!"

The kids in the cafeteria just kept on eating, not really giving them any indication that they were listening.

"...Of course." Mr. Brown scowled.

And with that, Mr. Brown dashed as fast as he can through the doors to stop this supposed fight from happening.

"Go get em, Honey-Bun." Miss Simian whispered to herself with a smile.

"Say what now?" said a random teenager waiting for his food.

Miss Simian eyes widened and she screeched at the teen. "N-Nothing! Here!" She slammed the pizza on the tray.

"...Uh...but I wanted a salad."

Miss Simian blinked. "What are you, a herbivore?"

"Well, my mom's side is herbivorous. My dad's side though actually eats meat, but it's kind of funny, cause he's a vegetarian, and-"

"What the-do you really think I care about your life story!? Go sit down and eat your food!" Miss Simian said in aggravation.

Darwin, Carrie, and Anais all stood there for a moment...

"...Actually, Carrie, I thought you couldn't eat solid food." Anais commented as she eyed the tray of food in the ghost girl's hands.

"Hey, a girl can dream, can she?" Carrie said with a casual shrug.

* * *

Gumball turned the corner of the school building to see that he wasn't too late. Tobias looked like he just got slammed against the wall by Jamie, which the latter looked livid. She has a fistful of his shirt while her other fist was reared back.

"Where is he!?" Jamie exclaimed angrily at Tobias.

"W-Who, Joe? H-Have you checked his locker?" Tobias stuttered, trying to remain cool.

"Already checked! He wasn't in there!" Jamie snarled.

"W-Well, I don't know then! Please, let me go! I-If it's Joe you want, I can think of some places! M-Maybe he's hiding in the trash! I-I can probably locate him i-if you want me to!"

"Oh, no! You're not getting away _that_ easily! Once you get your punishment, I'll just find Joe myself!" Jamie sneered.

Tobias squeaked in fright.

"This is for not respecting a girl's _privacy_!" Jamie exclaimed as she reared her fist even further. She was about to deliver the blow to Tobias...

"Wait, Jamie!" called out a familiar voice.

She threw the punch...but stopped midway when she sees a flash of blue appear in front of her. The person came into Jamie's vision, and it was none other than-

"Gumball!?" Jamie said in surprise.

"Gumball!? Dude, buddy, you came to rescue me!" Tobias said in great appreciative relief.

"In a way, yes I am here to rescue you," Gumball said to him with a glance and turned his attention back to Jamie. "Look, Jamie, I know you're upset, but I don't think you really need to release your anger out on Tobias."

"Yeah! Find Joe instead, he took the picture!" Tobias added.

Ignoring the neon colored puffball with a sigh, he continued, "You need to be rational about this. If you sock Tobias now, then how is that gonna go well with you in the long run, huh?"

Jamie just blinked at him, a little astonished.

"Okay, she's confused! Punch her now!" Tobias exclaimed.

Gumball turned his head to glance back at him with a glare. "Will you shut up, Tobias!?"

Then all of sudden...

"... _aaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH_!"

...out of the corner came Banana Joe, rushing towards the three with his arms flailing around. His eyes were closed, and it looked like he was emitting a battle cry, although it sounded like wailing more than a cry of bravery.

"Joe?" Gumball and Tobias questioned out loud.

Banana Joe, however, didn't hear them, his 'battle cry' drowning them out. In the midst of his blind fury, he actually collided into Gumball.

"OOF!" Gumball said as Joe soon dashed into him, sending him to the ground.

Banana Joe, who still had his eyes closed, was now on top of Gumball, throwing multiple punches onto the boy's face.

"ACK!-OW!-WHA-OW!-WOULD YOU _-OW_!-WILL YOU _-AH!-_ WAIT- _AUGH_!-CAN _YOU-OW!_ -JUST- _OW!-_ _ **DUDE**_ _-_ _ **OOOW**_ **!"** Gumball tried to stop him with words, but his face is just getting pummeled more by the second.

Meanwhile, Jamie just looked on dumbfounded, while Tobias just looked on at the exchange in confusion.

"Uh...Joe, dude?" Tobias said to Joe, trying to somehow calm him down.

Banana Joe just kept wailing on Gumball, to the point the one being attacked just had enough.

"GET OFF ME!" Gumball exclaimed as he pushed Joe off of him. Joe landed on his back from the push, in somewhat of a daze. Staggeringly getting up, Gumball closed his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the stars in his vision. His face actually started to ache from all the hits he received. Who knew Banana Joe can hit?

"Ugh..." groaned Joe, his eyes still closed. "What happened?"

"You wailed on Gumball, dude." Tobias simply explained.

"Huh?" Joe opened his eyes and saw Gumball with a couple of bruises on his face. Even the one that was already there, as Banana Joe smudged off the blue make-up while accidentally beating him up, was showing. He looked at his knuckles for a brief moment and saw that he has blue make-up on them. "Uh...heh, um..." Banana Joe rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "...Sorry. I was aiming for Jamie."

"Well, it doesn't matter now!" Tobias said, his tone sounding confident all of a sudden. "It's just three against one! Come on guys, we can take her!"

"Wha!?" Gumball said incredulously.

"Say what now!?" Jamie exclaimed, a little surprised.

"Wait...we can?" Joe asked Tobias.

"Yeah, of course we can! She may be tough, but she can't face us all on!" Tobias reasoned.

"W-Wait guys, I-I don't know if I-"

"Come on Gumball, this would be all the times she made fun of you and tortured you!" Tobias said to him. He then stared at back at Jamie with a hard glare. "It's payback time, Little Missy."

"W-Whoa-whoa! G-Guys, guys, I-I don't-I don't-I really don't want to do that! And besides, sh-she's a girl! I have a strict code of not hitting girls!" Gumball stuttered in a panic.

Jamie just stood there a little stupefied. Apparently, Tobias forgot that she practiced boxing in the Elmore Gym in town. She's not a pro, but she can deliver a good punch, as her trainer once told her. Also, she can probably take them all on, they weren't that threatening. Although to be truthfully honest, she really didn't want to beat up Gumball. The guy was just trying to stop the fight was all he was doing, now he was thrown into this. She has to admit though, his comment about not hitting any girls was pretty cute and chivalrous.

Still, not knowing what to do at that point, she now faced a dilemma. Fight, or just bail? She really can fight these dorks, Tobias and Joe(and Gumball, but she's excluding him out of the fight) any other day of the week, and if she did just that(again, excluding to fight Gumball), then she would get to keep her reputation.

On the other hand, though, if she ran away like a coward, her reputation would be tarnished, but at the same time, she wouldn't be able to try to beat up Gumball...

What's more important; her reputation, or Gumball?

 _'Damn it, it should be so simple, but I really don't know what to do...'_ Jamie thought, a little bit anxious.

"Ah come on, Gumball, don't you want to teach her a lesson!?" Tobias goaded.

"Yeah! I'm feeling up to it right now! Let's teach her a lesson, Gumball!" Banana Joe exclaimed, adrenaline now fueling in his banana-shaped body again as he started to punch some air.

"Are you _really_ suggesting that I beat up a _girl_!?" Gumball exclaimed in shock.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?"

All four of them froze, their attention slowly directed to the authoritative tone. In front of them was Principal Brown, wearing a scowl on his face.

"Just what do you four think you're all doing!?" Mr. Brown exclaimed.

It was quite evident that he was _not_ happy.

And at that point, Gumball and Jamie could only think one thing.

 _'Ooooh, crap.'_

* * *

 **Alrighty! That's the chapter! :D**

 **Right now, I'm getting ready to take my ACT tomorrow, so I wanted to get this done before I do! And it's a good thing I got this done in time! ;) Either way, I hope this chapter was well worth the wait! And as you can see from this one, I've made things get a lot more interesting! X)**

 **Hope you all enjoyed it! If so, tell me how it is in a review! Like it a lot? Then follow and fave it! I love all three of those notifications! 8D**

 **Thank you for reading, and once again, keep on rocking everybody! See you all later until next update! ^_^**

 **-TSP**


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